Name: Ryan Wedding labelled modern-day Pablo Escobar by FBI
Uploaded: 2025-11-20T14:38:49.086Z
Duration: 5 min 6 s
Description: U.S. officials have laid new charges against Canadian Olympian and alleged drug lord Ryan Wedding. Several associates were also arrested in Canada, including a Toronto-area defence lawyer.

U.S. officials have laid new charges against Canadian Olympian and alleged drug lord Ryan Wedding. Several associates were also arrested in Canada, including a Toronto-area defence lawyer.

Toronto

Canadian fugitive Ryan Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder, is accused by the FBI of orchestrating a vast narco-trafficking and narco-terrorism network, drawing comparisons to Pablo Escobar. The investigation, dubbed Operation Giant Slalom, has led to charges against Wedding and 12 alleged associates, including murder, witness tampering, and intimidation. 

Seven arrests were made in Canada with RCMP assistance, among them Wedding's Toronto-area lawyer, Deepak Paradkar, who is accused of advising on a witness killing. The U.S. State Department has increased the reward for information leading to Wedding's capture to $15 million, while those arrested face extradition to the United States. Wedding remains at large as authorities continue their international search.

Ryan Wedding labelled modern-day Pablo Escobar by FBI

The net around the Canadian fugitive is tightening. Ryan Wedding is a modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar. United States officials want Ryan Wedding to know he will not evade justice. He is responsible for engineering a narco-trafficking and narco-terrorism program that we have not seen in a long time. Ryan Wedding to the line. A former Olympic snowboarder turned alleged drug kingpin, Wedding is at the centre of a sprawling FBI investigation called Operation Giant Slalom. Now he faces new charges alongside 12 alleged associates, murder, witness tampering, intimidation and more. And make sure these animals are brought to justice. All accused of playing a role in the killing of a key witness in the FBI's case against Wedding. Radio Canada sources say the victim is Jonathan Acevedo Garcia, killed in January in a restaurant in Medellin, Colombia. Wedding placed a bounty on the victim's head in the erroneous belief that the victim's death would result in the dismissal of criminal charges against him. Among those arrested, seven were made with RCMP assistance in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta. They include Wedding's Toronto area defence lawyer, Deepak Paradkar, on whose advice Wedding allegedly ordered the killing. When you have lawyers who are assisting international drug trafficking players on how to evade law enforcement and to murder witnesses, we can't have that stance. Wedding represented Canada at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, but later he took up a different career. In 2009, he was convicted on a charge of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and sentenced to four years. In October 2024, the FBI charged Wedding for allegedly running an international drug ring and for the murder of four individuals in Ontario, two of them a case of mistaken identity, according to police. Wedding abandoned an Olympic-level athletic path where depraved violence and cocaine trafficking. Now the State Department is increasing the reward for any information leading to Wedding's arrest from $10 million US to $15 million. So, Sarah, the RCMP commissioner was down in Washington. Can we talk about the Mounties' role in all this? Yeah, so the RCMP says it's an important partner in this investigation, things like executing the arrests on Tuesday, but it really is the FBI taking the lead here. Under US law, Wedding's allegedly engaged in what's called an ongoing criminal enterprise. As for those seven Canadians arrested, they'll undergo an extradition process before being tried in the US. All right, that is Sarah Lovett in Montreal. Now, Ryan Wedding is still at large, but most of his alleged associates on this side of the border are in custody. Jamie Strachan has that part of the story. As Washington unveiled new allegations of Ryan Wedding's vast criminal reach, details of his alleged Canadian associates are coming into focus, including his Toronto-area lawyer accused of counselling him to kill. His lawyer advised him to kill this witness. His lawyer told him if you kill this witness, the case would be dismissed. Deepak Paradkar, widely known as the cocaine lawyer, was taken into custody earlier this week. One of seven Canadians allegedly linked to Wedding's sprawling criminal enterprise. Many in the GTA's tight-knit criminal defence community knew him well. It's very surreal having somebody you know facing these allegations. Identifying information about the witness and his wife was posted on this Canadian website, The Dirty News, operated by a 31-year-old Mississauga, Ontario man, also arrested. The website now seized. This so-called news outlet, The Dirty News, was paid by a co-defendant to post a photograph of the victim, witness, and his wife online so that he could be hunted down and killed. Atna Onha, aka Tupac, a 40-year-old man from Laval, Quebec, has been charged in connection with the murder of that witness, who was shot in the head five times at a restaurant in Columbia. No single agency or nation can combat transnational organized crime alone. The RCMP worked closely with the FBI in the investigation and arrest of the Canadian suspects. Some were arrested in the province of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, and we're still looking for one more individual. They are all incarcerated right now. Others charged include Wedding's alleged chief money launderer. Police say jeweler and professional poker player Roland Sokolofsky used his downtown Toronto business to channel drug money into luxury cars and motorcycles. While Wedding remains at large, those arrested face extradition to the United States to face criminal charges. Jamie Strachan, CBC News, Toronto.

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