Deepak Balwant Paradkar, pictured in 2017, was one of the Canadians arrested for allegedly working for or helping former Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding.Mark Blinch/The Canadian Press
A Toronto-area lawyer allegedly earned a million dollars in one year from Ryan Wedding’s criminal organization for what U.S. prosecutors describe as “favors,” according to a new court document that alleges the lawyer, Deepak Balwant Paradkar, dug up information about criminal cases tied to the group in exchange for cash and jewellery.
The document, filed earlier this week in Quebec Superior Court, provides new details about the allegations against Mr. Paradkar and other Canadians arrested last year, all of whom face extradition to the United States. They are all alleged to have worked for or helped Mr. Wedding, a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder who was arrested in Mexico last month on charges of murder conspiracy and drug trafficking, and transported to the U.S. The document was filed as part of the extradition process of one of Mr. Paradkar’s co-accused.
U.S. prosecutors have previously alleged that Mr. Paradkar was part of a conspiracy to murder a witness in Colombia when he told Mr. Wedding that if the witness was eliminated, he could escape criminal charges. That witness, who was born in Montreal, was gunned down in January of last year.
The document filed in Quebec alleges that Mr. Paradkar was on Mr. Wedding’s “payroll” and “oversaw cases of individuals arrested that could report on the Wedding” drug-trafficking organization. Much of the evidence cited in the document was obtained from the phone of Andrew Clark, another Canadian whom prosecutors have described as Mr. Wedding’s second-in-command.
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“Paradkar would obtain discovery, pass the discovery onto Wedding and Clark, and at the times requested let Wedding and Clark listen in on client conversations where the clients were members or associates” of Wedding’s group, the document alleges. “Clark paid Paradkar approximately C$1,000,000 in the past 12 months for various ‘favors.’”
The new document also alleges that Mr. Paradkar introduced Mr. Wedding to “high-level drug traffickers through his law practice and used that access to broker deals and to facilitate client introductions.”
None of the allegations have been tested in court. Mr. Paradkar’s lawyer Ravin Pillay declined to comment on the latest filing when contacted by The Globe and Mail Wednesday.
Mr. Clark was arrested by Mexican authorities on Oct. 8, 2024.
The document also relies on the expected testimony of a former member of the Wedding ring who turned confidential FBI witness in February of last year.
Mr. Clark’s phone, the document says, allegedly contained conversations between Mr. Clark and Mr. Paradkar that show how the lawyer worked contacts in Los Angeles to glean information about Wedding gang members after they had been arrested. The filing alleges that messages from Mr. Clark’s phone show that Mr. Paradkar sought to pay his American colleagues to obtain valuable information about Juan Manuel Quiroz Jimenez, a Wedding associate arrested in southern California with 200 kilograms of cocaine bound for Canada in the summer of 2024.
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Mr. Clark allegedly asked Mr. Paradkar if he could get the arrest report of Mr. Quiroz Jimenez for $5,000, to which Mr. Paradkar allegedly replied: “I’ve reached out to LA lawyers I used for the other guy to see how much they want.”
Mr. Paradkar, 62, who had been practising law in Ontario since 1993, was granted bail just before Christmas. He once used the Instagram handle “Cocaine_lawyer” – a nickname referred to in the initial U.S. indictment – and had boasted about clients who beat drug charges. He had a well-known taste for luxury cars and has described trials as warfare.
The two leaders of the Wedding ring also allegedly gifted Mr. Paradkar a $150,000 watch to thank him for allegedly introducing them to another drug smuggler named “Bobby,” the document alleges. The filing alleges Bobby ran a network through Los Angeles typically funnelling more than half a tonne of cocaine each run.
The document alleges that over five months in 2024, Mr. Wedding’s ring conspired to smuggle nearly two tonnes of cocaine north from Colombia by way of Mexico and California and into Canada, according to a deal brokered by a witness who was murdered while he was working with the FBI.
Mr. Paradkar has told the court he anticipates a lengthy extradition battle.
With a report from Eric Andrew-Gee in Montreal