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 medals, ammunition and various documents were found.
The two medals, intially reported as Olympic medals are a pair of Wedding’s Canadian National Team medals. Wedding later placed 24th in men’s snowboarding giant parallel slalom during the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
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.
FBI Los Angeles recently shared more detailed photos of the motorcycles seized and gave them an estimated value of $40 million for the 62. While a majority of the bikes have racing heritage including two of four 2011 Valentino Rossi #46 Ducati Desmosedici GP11 VR2. One of the other 4 was auctioned at Sotheby’s for nearly €250,000 Euros.
Additional racing motorcycles can be seen in the photos, some likely with racing pedigrees as well including one of Wayne Rainey’s Title Winning Yamaha YZR 500s, of which one went for $170,000 at auction in 2014. However, the $40 million value is purely speculative as MotoGP bikes are not sold to the retail public but only via auction or private sale after the race season.
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 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.
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