Newly unsealed U.S. court documents paint a chilling portrait of former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding as the alleged leader of a billion-dollar, cross-border cocaine empire—one who prosecutors say ordered the assassination of a federal witness who threatened to bring his criminal organization down.
According to the indictment released by the U.S. Department of Justice, Wedding’s operation stretched from Colombia to Mexico, across the United States, and into Canada. The network allegedly sourced cocaine from Colombia, transported it by air and sea to Mexico, smuggled it into the U.S. inside transport trucks, and ultimately funneled large quantities into Canada.
When several shipments were intercepted last April, Wedding and his alleged second-in-command, Andrew Clark, allegedly sought help from well-known GTA defence lawyer Deepak Balwant Paradkar, 62. The documents allege that Paradkar monitored the investigation and advised Wedding that the only way to collapse the federal indictment and derail extradition proceedings was to eliminate the cooperating FBI witness.
That advice, according to prosecutors, set off a sophisticated, multinational hunt for the informant—one that would end in a brutal public execution.
Wedding allegedly placed a $1-million bounty on the witness and enlisted several individuals, including alleged Montreal crime figure Atna Ohna, Colombian national Carmen Yelinet Valoyes Florez, and Calgary resident Allistair Chapman, to track the man down. Chapman is accused of feeding information to the operator of a Canadian crime blog, The Dirty Newz, who allegedly posted the witness’s photo online and branded him a “snitch” in an effort to crowd-source his location. An Instagram story posted the same day warned followers that the witness might “never be found again.”
In mid-November 2024, the indictment alleges Ohna recruited Montrealer Tommy Demorizi, who paid another Quebec man up to $1,000 for the victim’s phone number and email. Around the same time, Wedding allegedly directed one of Florez’s associates to travel to Colombia and lure the witness into a trap in exchange for mortgage payments and cosmetic surgery.
By December, prosecutors say Wedding purchased a specialized surveillance device capable of tracking the witness’s cellphone. The documents say Clark and Wedding later sent a Canadian associate, Ahmad Nabil Zitoun, to both Medellin and Mecca to locate the man. Zitoun allegedly declined an offer to carry out the killing but was paid $40,000 for his attempts.
On January 29, 2025, Wedding allegedly sent Clark surveillance footage of the witness in Medellin. Two days later, the indictment says a team of hired killers tracked the man to a restaurant inside a shopping mall. A shooter walked up to the table where the victim sat and fired five shots into his head, killing him instantly. Motorcycle and car drivers allegedly assisted in the escape, and another suspect photographed the body before fleeing. According to prosecutors, Wedding immediately sent Clark a photo of the corpse as proof and as a message intended to reverberate through the criminal underworld.
The DOJ announced Wednesday that 10 suspects, including seven Canadians, were arrested this week on charges ranging from drug trafficking to murder and witness tampering. Those in custody include Paradkar, Ohna, Chapman, Zitoun, Bal, Florez, Tejada and Basora-Hernandez.
Also charged is Toronto jeweler Rolan Sokolovski, accused of laundering money for Wedding’s criminal enterprise through his business, Diamond Tsar, and of crafting a jewel-encrusted necklace as a reward for Ohna’s alleged role in the killing.
Four suspects—including Wedding himself, believed to be in Mexico—remain at large. The U.S. has increased its reward for information leading to his capture from US$10 million to US$15 million, one of the largest bounties ever offered for a Canadian fugitive.