Calgary man accused of helping set up murder for alleged drug kingpin Ryan Wedding appears in court

A Calgary adult male accused of serving alleged canadian river do drugs nobleman Ryan Wedding set up the murder of an FBI informant appeared in court Friday, three days after he was arrested on an extradition warrant.

Allistair Chapman, 33, and nine others were arrested this week as part of a major FBI investigation into an international, billion-dollar drug trafficking organization allegedly headed by Wedding.

Wedding, the main target of the investigation, is a former Team Canada Olympic snowboarder-turned-fugitive who is listed on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list. The FBI says he is living in Mexico. 

Chapman is alleged to be a member of the “Wedding Criminal Enterprise,” which, according to the indictment, is the largest supplier of cocaine to Canada, operating in Mexico, Colombia, Canada and the U.S.

FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi laid out details of the case on Wednesday at a joint press conference in Washington, D.C., alongside RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme. They released the unsealed federal grand jury indictment, which contains details of the allegations against Wedding and his associates. 

The group also announced that the reward for information leading to Wedding’s arrest has been increased to $10 million.

Of the 10 people arrested this week in connection with the case, seven are living in Canada. Extradition proceedings will take place before the group is prosecuted in California.

Chapman was arrested in Calgary on Tuesday after a Quebec judge signed an extradition warrant.

On Friday morning, Chapman appeared in court shackled, wearing a blue jail-issued jumpsuit as defence counsel Chad Haggerty and Department of Justice lawyer Colin LaRoche appeared before Court of King’s Bench Justice Lisa Silver to adjourn the matter to Dec. 5. 

A date for his extradition hearing has not been set. 

Chapman faces charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to retaliate against a witness and other organized crime offences.

U.S. Authorities allege that on top of cocaine trafficking, Chapman provided a photo to Gursewak Singh Bal, the operator of The Dirty News, a website that often features information and photos of crime scenes and crime figures. Police allege Bal, who is also facing charges, was paid $10,000 by Chapman to post the photo. 

“Defendant Chapman provided defendant Bal with a photograph of Victim A and paid him to post the photograph so that Victim A could be located and killed,” reads part of the indictment. 

That witness was shot in the head five times in a restaurant in Colombia three months after his photo was posted to The Dirty News. 

Chapman, a former Alberta Junior Hockey League player, was previously charged in connection with drug and firearms trafficking.

When charges were laid in 2018, police said Chapman was the leader of a Calgary-based organized crime group involved in cross-border drug and gun importation/exportation.

The group was connected to two murders, although Chapman was not charged with any homicide-related offences at that time.

Chapman’s 2018 charges were stayed in 2020 after a judge ruled the case took too long to get to trial. 

Justice affairs reporter

Meghan Grant is a justice affairs reporter. She has been covering courts, crime and stories of police accountability in southern Alberta for more 15 years. Send Meghan a story tip at meghan.grant@cbc.ca.

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