Ryan Wedding Hired Escobar Group to Kill Witness, Track Phones

Ryan Wedding Hired Pablo Escobar-Linked Crime Syndicate to Kill FBI Witness and Track Cellphones, Court Documents Reveal

New evidence shows ex-Olympian allegedly paid Oficina de Envigado $500K for assassination, deployed spyware to track targets, and sought to kidnap FBI informant. Full breakdown of the cartel connections.

Introduction: From Olympic Snow to Colombian Blood

Ryan Wedding competed for Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He rode the parallel giant slalom course with the maple leaf on his chest and the hope that comes with representing your country on the world’s biggest athletic stage.

Twenty-four years later, FBI Director Kash Patel calls him ‘the modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar.’ Not hyperbole. Not exaggeration. An actual comparison to one of history’s most violent drug lords.

On February 18, 2026, U.S. prosecutors released a 46-page ‘record of the case’ document that provides the most detailed picture yet of Wedding’s alleged transformation from snowboarder to narco-kingpin — and specifically, of his connection to one of Colombia’s most notorious crime syndicates: Oficina de Envigado, a criminal organization once controlled by Pablo Escobar himself.

This article breaks down the new evidence, the assassination in Medellín, the technology used to track targets, and what comes next in one of the most shocking criminal cases in Canadian history.

Quick Answer: Ryan Wedding and the Oficina de Envigado 

New court documents reveal that Ryan Wedding, a 44-year-old former Canadian Olympic snowboarder, allegedly hired Oficina de Envigado — a Colombian crime syndicate once linked to Pablo Escobar — to assassinate FBI witness Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia in January 2025. Prosecutors say Wedding paid approximately $500,000 in cryptocurrency for the hit, deployed cellphone spyware, and planned to kidnap and torture the informant.

1. Breaking: New Evidence Links Wedding to Oficina de Envigado

For the first time, U.S. prosecutors have explicitly identified the group they believe Wedding hired to carry out the January 2025 murder of Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia: Oficina de Envigado.

The 46-page document — formally called a ‘record of the case’ and reviewed by CBC News — was filed in U.S. Federal Court as part of the ongoing prosecution against Wedding and his alleged associates.

What the Document Reveals

• Wedding hired Oficina de Envigado to conduct surveillance on Acebedo-Garcia, his spouse, and a woman identified as ‘J.R.’ (described as Acebedo-Garcia’s ‘lover’).
• Wedding paid approximately $500,000 USD in cryptocurrency for the assassination (though he initially claimed to have paid $2.5 million).
• Wedding deployed cellphone spyware — described as an ‘on-device interception tool’ — in an unsuccessful attempt to track Acebedo-Garcia’s phone.
• Wedding paid $18,500 USD to an unidentified person to access the spyware technology.
• After the assassination, Wedding sent a photograph of Acebedo-Garcia’s corpse to his alleged second-in-command, Andrew Clark, and bragged about killing the ‘rat.’

2. Who Is Ryan Wedding? From Olympian to ‘Modern-Day Pablo Escobar’

Full Name	Ryan James Wedding
Age	44 (born September 14, 1981)
Birthplace	Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
Olympic Event	Parallel Giant Slalom, 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics
Aliases	El Jefe, Giant, Public Enemy
Previous Conviction	2009 — Conspiracy to distribute cocaine (48 months in prison)
Current Charges	Leading a continuing criminal enterprise, murder, drug trafficking, witness tampering, money laundering
Cartel Connections	Sinaloa Cartel, Oficina de Envigado (Colombia)
Estimated Annual Revenue	$1 billion USD from cocaine trafficking
FBI Reward	$15 million USD (one of the largest in FBI history)
Arrest Date	January 22, 2026 — Mexico City
Trial Date	March 24, 2026 — Los Angeles Federal Court

 

Wedding was not always a criminal. He grew up in a skiing family — his maternal grandparents owned Mount Baldy ski resort in Thunder Bay, and his uncle coached Canada’s women’s alpine ski team. When his family moved to Coquitlam, British Columbia, Wedding transitioned to snowboarding and earned a spot on Canada’s 2002 Olympic team.

But his life took a dark turn. In 2008, he was arrested attempting to buy 24 kilograms of cocaine from an undercover agent. He was convicted in 2009 and expressed remorse in court. Prosecutors now say that remorse did not last.

3. The Assassination: Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia Murdered in Medellín

On January 31, 2025, Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia was having lunch with friends at a restaurant in Medellín, Colombia. An unidentified hit squad approached. He was shot in the head five times. He died instantly.

Acebedo-Garcia, 42, was a Montreal-born former drug trafficker who had met Wedding while both were serving time in a Texas prison more than a decade earlier. After his release, Acebedo-Garcia became part of Wedding’s alleged criminal network. But in late 2023, he made a decision that would cost him his life: he flipped and became an FBI informant.

Why Wedding Wanted Him Dead

In October 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against Wedding, Andrew Clark, and 14 others. The indictment repeatedly cited an unnamed informant who had worked with the group’s leaders and was prepared to testify against them.

Wedding suspected Acebedo-Garcia almost immediately. According to prosecutors, Wedding placed a bounty of up to $5 million USD on Acebedo-Garcia’s head. He told associates in encrypted chats that the informant needed to be eliminated.

“I gave them $2.5 million for the hit.”  — Ryan Wedding, in encrypted chat (prosecutors say actual payment was $500,000 in cryptocurrency)

The Surveillance Operation

Before the assassination, Oficina de Envigado conducted extensive surveillance on multiple targets:

• Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia
• Acebedo-Garcia’s spouse
• A woman identified only as ‘J.R.,’ described as Acebedo-Garcia’s ‘lover’

The surveillance team tracked their movements, routines, and vulnerabilities. This level of operational planning is consistent with Oficina de Envigado’s reputation as one of Colombia’s most professional and ruthless criminal organizations.

4. Oficina de Envigado: The Pablo Escobar Connection Explained

To understand the significance of Wedding hiring Oficina de Envigado, you need to understand what this organization is — and where it came from.

The Escobar Era

Oficina de Envigado was originally created as the enforcement arm of the Medellín Cartel, controlled by Pablo Escobar. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the organization carried out assassinations, bombings, and kidnappings on Escobar’s orders. They were responsible for some of the most violent acts of Colombia’s narco-terrorism era.

After Escobar’s death in 1993, Oficina de Envigado did not disappear. It evolved. It became an independent criminal syndicate offering ‘services’ to various cartels and criminal enterprises — assassinations, kidnappings, extortion, drug trafficking, and money laundering.

What Oficina de Envigado Does Today

• Contract killings for hire
• Surveillance and intelligence gathering
• Kidnapping and extortion
• Drug trafficking (often as subcontractors for larger cartels)
• Money laundering

The organization operates primarily in and around Medellín, Colombia — which is exactly where Acebedo-Garcia was killed.

5. The $500,000 Payment: How Wedding Funded the Hit

According to the court document, Wedding initially claimed to have paid $2.5 million USD for the assassination. However, an associate told investigators the actual amount was closer to $500,000 USD — paid in cryptocurrency.

Why Cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrency transactions are pseudonymous and difficult to trace through traditional banking surveillance. For international criminal payments, cryptocurrency offers:

• Near-instant transfer across borders
• No need for traditional banking institutions
• Difficulty for law enforcement to trace ownership
• Ability to ‘tumble’ or ‘mix’ coins to further obscure the source

Prosecutors tracked the payment through blockchain analysis — a growing tool in federal investigations. While cryptocurrency is not anonymous, skilled investigators can often follow the digital trail if they have access to exchange data and blockchain forensic tools.

6. Spyware and Cell Phone Tracking: The Technology Wedding Used

The court document reveals that Wedding deployed sophisticated surveillance technology to try to locate Acebedo-Garcia before the hit.

On-Device Interception Tool

Prosecutors describe the spyware as an ‘on-device interception tool’ — a type of software that, once installed on a target’s phone, can:

• Track GPS location in real-time
• Record phone calls and text messages
• Access photos, emails, and contacts
• Activate the microphone and camera remotely

This type of spyware is typically sold to governments and law enforcement agencies, but has increasingly been used by criminal organizations. Wedding allegedly paid $18,500 USD to an unidentified person to access the technology.

Did It Work?

No. The court document states that the attempt to track Acebedo-Garcia’s cellphone was ‘unsuccessful.’ It is unclear whether Acebedo-Garcia detected the spyware, changed phones, or whether the technology simply failed to install properly.

Instead, Oficina de Envigado relied on traditional human surveillance to track Acebedo-Garcia’s movements — ultimately locating him at the Medellín restaurant where he was killed.

7. The Kidnapping Plot: Wedding’s Plan to Torture the Informant

According to the new evidence, assassination was not Wedding’s only plan. He also asked Oficina de Envigado to kidnap and torture Acebedo-Garcia.

This detail — buried in the 46-page court document — is chilling. It suggests Wedding wanted Acebedo-Garcia to suffer before he died. It also reflects the level of rage Wedding felt toward someone he viewed as a traitor.

Why Kidnapping Was Part of the Plan

Criminal organizations often use torture before execution to:

• Extract information about other informants or ongoing investigations
• Force the victim to send messages to law enforcement retracting their cooperation
• Demonstrate to others what happens to ‘rats’
• Satisfy personal revenge motivations

It is unclear whether the kidnapping component was carried out or whether Oficina de Envigado decided a straightforward assassination was more operationally secure.

8. The Lawyer’s Role: Deepak Paradkar’s Alleged Involvement

One of the most shocking elements of this case is the alleged involvement of Deepak Paradkar, a Toronto-area lawyer who represented Wedding.

What Paradkar Is Accused Of

Prosecutors allege that Paradkar — sometimes referred to in criminal circles as a ‘cocaine lawyer’ — advised Wedding and Andrew Clark that killing the FBI witness would cause the U.S. prosecution to collapse.

“If you kill this witness, the case would be dismissed.”  — Alleged advice from Deepak Paradkar to Ryan Wedding and Andrew Clark (per prosecutors)

The record of the case states that even after Acebedo-Garcia’s assassination, Paradkar reaffirmed his belief that the FBI’s case was no longer viable.

Paradkar was arrested on November 18, 2025, along with Rolan Sokolovski (a Toronto jeweller accused of money laundering) and Gursewak Singh Bal (a Punjabi social media blogger accused of posting images of the FBI witness to intimidate him). Paradkar was released on bail in December 2025 and has denied all wrongdoing.

9. Andrew Clark Flips: Wedding’s Right-Hand Man Turns FBI Informant

Andrew Clark, Wedding’s alleged top lieutenant, was arrested in Mexico in October 2024 in a dramatic operation involving the Mexican navy. He was described by the Mexican government as a logistics operator with ties to both the Sinaloa cartel and the Jalisco New Generation cartel.

His aliases included ‘Dictator’ and ‘el niño problemático’ (‘the problem child’). But after his extradition to the United States in February 2025, Clark made a decision that would reshape the entire case: he started cooperating with the FBI.

What Clark Told Investigators

According to former federal prosecutor Richard Donoghue, if Clark acted as a cooperating witness, he would likely testify against Wedding at trial. ‘It’s so important for the jury to hear from someone who was part of the conspiracy,’ Donoghue said. ‘They really narrate the crime from the inside.’

Clark’s cooperation gave investigators insight into:

• Wedding’s encrypted communications
• The structure of the drug trafficking operation
• Wedding’s connections to the Sinaloa cartel and Oficina de Envigado
• The planning and execution of the Acebedo-Garcia assassination
• Wedding’s financial operations and cryptocurrency usage

10. Operation Giant Slalom: The FBI Takedown

The FBI dubbed its investigation into Wedding’s network ‘Operation Giant Slalom’ — a direct reference to his Olympic event.

The Original Indictment (October 2024)

The first indictment, unsealed in October 2024, charged Wedding, Clark, and 14 others with:

• Operating a continuing criminal enterprise
• Drug trafficking (moving multi-ton quantities of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico and California into Canada)
• Three murders (including the 2024 killings of married couple Jagtar and Harbhajan Sidhu in Caledon, Ontario, and Mohammed Zafar in Niagara)
• One attempted murder

The Superseding Indictment (November 2025)

After Acebedo-Garcia’s assassination, prosecutors filed a superseding indictment adding:

• Witness tampering and intimidation
• Murder in connection with witness tampering (Acebedo-Garcia)
• Additional money laundering charges
• Charges against Deepak Paradkar, Rolan Sokolovski, and Gursewak Singh Bal

11. Wedding’s Arrest in Mexico: How He Was Finally Captured

Ryan Wedding evaded capture for years. The RCMP tried to arrest him in 2015, but he vanished from Montreal. He lived under the protection of the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico for over a decade.

On March 6, 2025, Wedding was added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. The State Department offered a $15 million USD reward — one of the largest in FBI history.

The Surrender

On January 22, 2026, Wedding surrendered at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. Initial reports suggested he turned himself in voluntarily. His lawyer, Anthony Colombo, disputed this, saying Wedding was apprehended ‘non-voluntarily.’

Mexican security expert David Saucedo told CBC that U.S. authorities had been in contact with Wedding for days before the surrender, and that Mexican authorities were aware of the communications.

Saucedo also suggested Wedding’s protection from ‘Los Chapitos’ — the Sinaloa cartel faction loyal to El Chapo’s sons — had deteriorated. ‘That was Ryan’s problem, he trusted excessively in Los Chapitos, and Los Chapitos have betrayal tattooed on their skin,’ Saucedo said.

12. The Charges: What Wedding Faces in Court

Ryan Wedding pleaded not guilty on January 26, 2026, and is being held without bail. His trial is scheduled to begin March 24, 2026, though his attorney has indicated it may be delayed due to the volume of evidence.

Federal Charges

• Operating a continuing criminal enterprise (kingpin statute)
• Drug trafficking — conspiracy to distribute multi-ton quantities of cocaine
• Four counts of murder (three in Canada, one in Colombia)
• One count of attempted murder
• Witness tampering and intimidation
• Money laundering

Maximum Sentence

If convicted on all counts, Wedding faces life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The kingpin statute alone carries a mandatory minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life.

13. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Who is Ryan Wedding?

Ryan Wedding is a 44-year-old Canadian former Olympic snowboarder who competed for Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He is now accused of leading a transnational cocaine trafficking organization responsible for murders in Canada and Colombia. FBI Director Kash Patel has called him ‘the modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar.’

What is Oficina de Envigado?

Oficina de Envigado is a Colombian crime syndicate originally created as the enforcement arm of Pablo Escobar’s Medellín Cartel. After Escobar’s death in 1993, it became an independent criminal organization offering contract killings, kidnappings, drug trafficking, and money laundering services. U.S. prosecutors now say Wedding hired them to kill FBI informant Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia.

Who was Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia?

Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia was a 42-year-old Montreal-born former drug trafficker who became an FBI informant in late 2023. He was preparing to testify against Wedding when he was shot in the head five times at a Medellín restaurant on January 31, 2025. Wedding allegedly placed a $5 million bounty on him and paid Oficina de Envigado $500,000 in cryptocurrency to carry out the assassination.

How much did Wedding pay for the assassination?

Wedding allegedly paid approximately $500,000 USD in cryptocurrency to Oficina de Envigado for the assassination of Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia. Wedding initially claimed to have paid $2.5 million, but an associate told investigators the actual amount was closer to $500,000.

What spyware did Wedding use?

Wedding allegedly deployed an ‘on-device interception tool’ — cellphone spyware capable of tracking GPS location, recording calls and messages, and remotely activating microphones and cameras. Wedding paid $18,500 USD to access the technology. However, the attempt to track Acebedo-Garcia’s phone was unsuccessful.

Who is Deepak Paradkar?

Deepak Paradkar is a Toronto-area lawyer who represented Wedding. Prosecutors allege Paradkar advised Wedding and Andrew Clark to kill the FBI informant, telling them the case would collapse if the witness was eliminated. Paradkar was arrested in November 2025, released on bail in December, and has denied wrongdoing.

Did Wedding’s right-hand man become an FBI informant?

Yes. Andrew Clark, Wedding’s alleged top lieutenant, was arrested in Mexico in October 2024 and extradited to the U.S. in February 2025. He is now cooperating with federal investigators and is expected to testify against Wedding at trial.

When was Wedding arrested?

Wedding surrendered at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City on January 22, 2026. He was transferred to U.S. custody and appeared in Los Angeles federal court on January 26, 2026, where he pleaded not guilty. His trial is set to begin March 24, 2026.

What is the FBI reward for Wedding?

The U.S. State Department offered a reward of $15 million USD for Wedding’s capture — one of the largest rewards in FBI history. The reward was ‘jointly offered with assistance from the Canadian and Mexican governments.’

14. Key Takeaways

• New court documents reveal Ryan Wedding allegedly hired Oficina de Envigado — a Colombian crime syndicate once linked to Pablo Escobar — to assassinate FBI informant Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia in January 2025.
• Wedding paid approximately $500,000 USD in cryptocurrency for the hit and deployed $18,500 worth of cellphone spyware to track Acebedo-Garcia (though the tracking attempt failed).
• Acebedo-Garcia was shot in the head five times at a Medellín restaurant after extensive surveillance by Oficina de Envigado operatives.
• Wedding also asked the syndicate to kidnap and torture the informant before killing him.
• Deepak Paradkar, a Toronto-area lawyer, allegedly advised Wedding that killing the witness would cause the U.S. prosecution to collapse. Paradkar has denied wrongdoing.
• Andrew Clark, Wedding’s alleged right-hand man, flipped and is now cooperating with the FBI. He is expected to testify against Wedding at trial.
• Wedding was arrested in Mexico City on January 22, 2026, after years on the run. He faces life imprisonment without parole if convicted.
• FBI Director Kash Patel called Wedding ‘the modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar’ and said his network represents a level of narco-terrorism ‘we have not seen in a long time.’

Sources

This article draws on reporting from the following credible sources:

• CBC News — Thomas Daigle’s reporting on the 46-page court document, February 18, 2026
• Yahoo News Canada — coverage of Oficina de Envigado connection, February 18, 2026
• ABC News — Ryan Wedding timeline and trial updates
• RED FM Toronto — comprehensive dark saga coverage
• CP24 — lawyer involvement and Canadian arrests
• The Mob Museum — DEA expert analysis and Escobar comparisons
• OAN — DOJ press conference coverage, November 19, 2025
• Wikipedia — verified biographical and case timeline

Published February 18, 2026  •  Developing Story — Trial Begins March 24  •  Updates Will Be Added Following Court Proceedings