FBI's Most Wanted Trafficker Ryan James Wedding Part 4: Mexico City Raids Yield 62 Motorcycles, Art and Two Olympic Medals

 "Socalj" for Borderland Beat

As part of a joint agency and international operation, Mexico's FGR, SSPC, GN, SEMAR and the Army carried out four raids on homes and properties in Mexico City and the State of Mexico, related to "a former Olympic athlete and one of the 10 most wanted fugitives by U.S. authorities."

Doses of methamphetamine and marijuana, 62 high-end motorcycles, two vehicles, works of art, two Olympic medals, ammunition and various documents were found.

It’s unclear to whom the Olympic medals belong, as Wedding had placed 24th in men’s snowboarding giant parallel slalom during the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

Authorities say they identified four properties in Mexico City and nearby around Mexico State, where they seized 62 motorcycles, two Olympic medals, weapon ammunition, artwork and various documents. Police also seized small doses of methamphetamine and cannabis at the properties.

A CBC review of public records found Daniela Alejandra Acuna Macias, named by U.S. authorities as Wedding’s Colombian-born girlfriend, has an address listed in the area, just beyond the western part of Mexico City.

The area is only a short drive from the Santa Fe business district, which according to an analysis by CBC, is where Wedding was seen wearing a blue cap and white T-shirt in a 2024 picture released by the FBI.

The U.S. Treasury Department recently said Wedding uses luxury cars, motorcycles, properties, front companies and cryptocurrency as part of a “complex web” of assets to shield his vast wealth gained from drug trafficking.

Last month, the FBI in Miami seized an ultra-rare Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR Roadster, estimated to be worth $13 million. A CBC News investigation found the car had been purchased by Rolan Sokolovski, the Toronto jeweller sanctioned by U.S. authorities as one of Wedding’s chief money launderers.

The bill of sale lists two exotic car dealerships, based in Missouri and Florida, as being involved in the deal. With a $2-million deposit from Sokolovski, the Mercedes was to be delivered to Curated Vintage Supercars in Miami and kept there until the remainder of the $11.9-million purchase price was “paid in full.”

Later that month on its Facebook page, Curated heralded the CLK-GTR as part of “possibly the most epic arrival in the history” of the dealership. In a video posted online, Hershel Zelcer, a representative for the Miami dealership, said that Roadster, number 5 of the 6 ever made, had belonged to the royal family of Abu Dhabi. He claimed the company had sourced the car for Drake, but ultimately the deal with the Canadian hip-hop star ultimately fell through.

According to the US Treasury, Sokolovski acted alongside former Italian special forces member Gianluca Tiepolo as the network’s chief money launderers. Tiepolo allegedly held millions of dollars’ worth of Wedding’s property under his own name, while operating luxury car and motorcycle businesses out of Italy and England.

Sokolovski made millions of dollars’ worth of monthly vehicle payments to Tiepolo on behalf of Wedding, according to documents filed in an Ontario court.

 
Tiepolo also founded Windrose Tactical Academy/Solutions, which provided “military-style tactical training” for Wedding’s hitmen, the U.S. Treasury said in a statement last month.

Based on social media posts by Tiepolo and Windrose Tactical, prior to the US sanctions, the company has been involved in training sessions in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Italy, Dubai, and other regions. Various posts promote training for law enforcement and other professionals, most recently, the company was training with INTERPOL and Colombian National Police in Colombia.

Wedding’s network has been linked to dozens of murders, including the shooting deaths of a Indian couple in Caledon, Ont., who were mistakenly targeted over a stolen cocaine shipment. A young hitman was recruited by Andrew Clark and sent to training in Mexico with the plans of targeting several people but was arrested not long after he killed the first on the list, a trafficker in the Niagara Falls region.

“Im deeply concerned about the bank transfer you did for me before,” Wedding’s alleged top lieutenant, Andrew Clark, purportedly wrote to Sokolovski on Oct. 4, 2024. “Of [sic] that guy I tried to kill,” Clark added, “and police intervened.”

Rasheed Pascua Hossain, another Canadian identified in the indictment as a key money launderer for the “Wedding Criminal Enterprise,” was arrested last month in Vancouver. Also known as “JP Morgan,” Hossain had allegedly sent over $200 million to Wedding in the cryptocurrency Tether over a six-month span in 2024.

Canadian Cocaine Lawyer Out on $5 million Bail

An Ontario Superior Court judge has granted bail to the Toronto-area criminal lawyer facing U.S. extradition on charges that he helped plot the murder of a government witness against Wedding's cocaine-trafficking organization.

Deepak Paradkar, 62, who once used the social-media handle “Cocaine lawyer,” was among eight Canadians arrested last month. The FBI, backed by the RCMP, alleges Mr. Paradkar took part in murder conspiracy, drug trafficking and conspiracy to tamper with a witness according to an indictment that was unsealed last month in Los Angeles.

The Canadian legal filings show that the evidence against Mr. Paradkar also comes from a Canadian suspect’s phone, which was seized by Mexican authorities and handed over to the FBI in March.

Paradkar is accused in Los Angeles of advising Wedding to kill a confidential witness for the FBI who was expected to testify against Wedding. The witness, who is identified in court documents filed in Canada as Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia, was killed with five shots to the head in a restaurant in Colombia earlier this year. Several of those arrested last month in Canada are accused of having a role in his killing.

Paradkar has told the court he anticipates a lengthy extradition battle and plans to defend the accusations against him. He also said that he has endured multiple lockdowns and isolation in Ontario’s jails since his arrest. “It is very, very difficult conditions,” he said.

Sources SSPC, The Bureau News, CBC, CBC, CBC