Ryan Wedding hired Pablo Escobar-linked group to kill witness, track cell phones in Canada, documents say

Ryan wedding party hired a Colombian criminal offense family erstwhile linked to Pablo Escobar to caterpillar tread targets' cell phones in Canada and asked the group to kidnap and torture an FBI informant, according to new evidence provided by U.S. Prosecutors.

Before his recent arrest, the Ontario-born alleged drug kingpin is said to have complained that U.S. Authorities "ruined his life."

The fresh insight into the FBI's investigation targeting Wedding's purported transnational criminal enterprise comes from a summary of the U.S. Case, which was shared with defence lawyers representing some of Wedding's associates arrested in Canada in November.

Eight Canadians named in a federal grand jury indictment — including lawyer Deepak Paradkar and alleged money launderer Rolan Sokolovski — all face extradition to California. The accusations against them have not been proven in court.

Wedding is said to have placed a bounty of up to $5 million US on Acebedo-Garcia after he learned of his former associate's co-operation with investigators. The 42-year-old was shot in the head five times by an unidentified hit squad as he had lunch with friends in a restaurant in Medellín, Colombia.

For the first time, U.S. Prosecutors have said they believe Wedding hired the Oficina de Envigado, a notorious Colombian organized crime group, to carry out the killing. 

The Oficina was originally founded in the 1980s as a ruthless collection agency for the late Escobar's Medellín cartel. According to the U.S. Justice Department, the group is now involved in drug trafficking, drug debt collection, money laundering, extortion and murder for hire.

Wedding purportedly claimed early last year he had given the group $2.5 million US for Acebedo-Garcia’s assassination, but an associate said the amount paid was likely the equivalent of $500,000 US in cryptocurrency. 

The Oficina allegedly had an unidentified team conduct surveillance on Acebedo-Garcia, his spouse and another woman identified as J.R. And described as Acebedo-Garcia’s "lover."

What's more, Wedding is said to have deployed — through those same Colombian connections — spyware known as an on-device interception tool in an unsuccessful attempt to track Acebedo-Garcia's cell phone. Investigators said Wedding paid $18,500 US to an unidentified person to access the technology.

The new evidence suggests the former Olympic snowboarder also used the phone tracker "numerous times in Canada and Mexico." Wedding is said to have shown an associate a screenshot of the spyware in use, which displayed a Montreal number "being tracked in real time."

The record of the case says "originally, Wedding told the Oficina to kidnap Victim A," referring to Acebedo-Garcia, "and 'chop him up,' meaning to torture and subsequently kill" him. The plan later changed to an "execution-style" murder involving a gunman using a silencer, according to the documents.

Wedding's purported drug-smuggling network allegedly shipped 60 tonnes of cocaine per year across North America and has been linked to dozens of murders, including at least four in Ontario. After evading arrest in Canada for a decade, Wedding was added last year to the FBI's list of 10 most-wanted fugitives.

Investigators have said Wedding had likely been hiding out in Mexico since 2015.

FBI director Kash Patel has compared Wedding to a "modern day" version of Escobar and the infamous former Mexican cartel boss known as El Chapo.

Prosecutors previously said Paradkar, the Toronto-area lawyer, counselled Wedding and his right-hand man Andrew Clark to kill the informant to ensure the U.S. Prosecution against them would collapse. The record of the case says even after Acebedo-Garcia's assassination, Paradkar reaffirmed his belief that the FBI's case was no longer viable. 

Paradkar, who was released on bail in December, has denied wrongdoing.

According to prosecutors, Wedding insisted in an encrypted chat with an associate last June that U.S. Authorities had no case against them after Acebedo-Garcia's killing.

"Without him," Wedding purportedly wrote, "there’s nothing."

Wedding also purportedly told Clark he ordered the hit on Acebedo-Garcia "as an insult" to the U.S. Government because authorities had "ruined" Wedding’s life.

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