Deepak Paradkar, a Canadian attorney specializing in drug violation defense, was taken into custody as part of the FBI’s extensive operation targeting former Olympian Ryan Wedding, as announced by the FBI and DOJ on Wednesday.
Wedding, formerly an Olympic snowboarder representing Team Canada, remains at large and faces multiple charges. These include murder related to a continuing criminal enterprise and drug offenses, tampering with a witness, victim, or informant, and retaliation against a witness, victim, or informant.
U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli identified Paradkar as Wedding’s lawyer during the press conference. Essayli further alleged that Paradkar advised Wedding to murder a witness in an attempt to get a case dismissed.
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“His lawyer advised him to kill this witness. His lawyer told him, ‘If you kill this witness, the case would be dismissed.’ That lawyer is now in custody and he’ll be extradited and brought to justice here in the United States,” Essayli stated.
According to the indictment against Paradkar, “Defendant Paradkar, and others known and unknown to the Grand Jury, would advise defendant Wedding and [Wedding’s accomplice Andrew] Clark that Victim A’s murder would benefit them by causing the federal indictment against them in Wedding I and related extradition proceedings to be dismissed.”
The indictment further claims that Paradkar purportedly allowed Clark to “covertly” listen to a conversation he was having with another accused suspect. It also alleges that while Clark and another defendant discussed killing another co-accused, Paradkar advised them to “discuss the matter on a different chat without him present and to delete any and all discussion of the murder plot.”
The U.S. Department of the Treasury issued separate sanctions against Paradkar on Wednesday, with officials accusing the lawyer of betraying the “trust of his clients and the ethics of his profession” by enabling Wedding and his associates to eavesdrop on privileged communication.
WHO IS RYAN WEDDING? OLYMPIAN TURNED ALLEGED MURDEROUS DRUG KINGPIN AND TOP FBI TARGET
“Paradkar is a Canadian attorney who has provided a range of illegal services to Wedding and his drug trafficking organization beyond the scope of a normal attorney-client relationship,” the news release stated.
“Paradkar introduced Wedding to the drug traffickers that have been moving Wedding’s cocaine and has also helped Wedding with bribery and murder.
“Paradkar violated the trust of his clients and the ethics of his profession by allowing Wedding and his associates to eavesdrop on privileged communications between Paradkar and his other clients, several of whom Wedding wished to murder. Wedding paid Paradkar with luxury watches and additional fees for these illegal services.”
US Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed Wednesday that Wedding ultimately ordered a hit on a federal witness by posting the witness’s pictures online. Bondi stated that the ex-Olympian allegedly shared the photographs of the witness, who was scheduled to testify against him, on a now-deleted website called “The Dirty News” following his indictment in 2024.
Subsequently, the witness was fatally shot in a restaurant in Medellin, Colombia, on January 31.
Federal authorities increased the reward for Wedding’s capture to $15 million on Wednesday.
Wedding, aged 44, along with 14 other alleged associates, stands accused of orchestrating the January 2025 murder of a witness who was shot and killed at a restaurant in Colombia. Officials claim Wedding placed a bounty on the victim’s head, believing their death would lead to the dismissal of charges against him and the drug-trafficking ring he allegedly leads.
Wedding is on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List and is described by federal officials as an “extremely violent criminal believed to be responsible for the murder of numerous people abroad.”
Wedding is allegedly responsible for trafficking tons of cocaine through Colombia and Mexico for distribution in the U.S. and Canada and uses cryptocurrency to conceal his wealth. The FBI has stated that Wedding has ordered dozens of murders in North America and Latin America.
Wedding competed in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, having missed the 1998 Games. It was his sole Olympic appearance.
In his only event, the men’s parallel giant slalom, Wedding finished in 24th place. Philipp Schoch of Switzerland won gold, Richard Rikardsson of Sweden won silver, and Chris Klug of the U.S. won bronze.
According to the FBI, the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police allege that Wedding and Clark coordinated a double homicide in Ontario in November 2023 involving an innocent couple in a mistaken-identity killing.
Wedding and Clark are also accused of coordinating the murder of another person in May over a drug debt.
The murder and criminal enterprise charges against Wedding carry a mandatory minimum sentence of life in federal prison.
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