U.S. officials say Mexican federal judge Luis Benítez Alcántara accepted a $2 million bribe to release Andrew Clark, an alleged associate of Ryan Wedding, from custody.
A Mexican federal judge has been arrested in Colombia and accused by the U.S. Justice Department of accepting a $2 million bribe to release a Canadian man from custody in a case tied to former Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding.
Luis Benítez Alcántara, 49, of Mexico City, was arrested on Sunday in Colombia. He faces a nine-count U.S. grand jury indictment charging him with being an accessory after the fact, according to the Department of Justice.
The charges stem from extradition proceedings in Mexico in 2024 for Andrew Clark, a Canadian citizen charged in the U.S. with helping to run a billion-dollar drug trafficking group allegedly headed by Ryan Wedding. The DOJ said Clark negotiated an agreement to pay Benítez approximately $2 million in exchange for ordering his release, and transferred the money through intermediaries.
On February 24, 2025, the same day Benítez received the full $2 million bribe payment, he granted Clark bond and ordered him released. Days later, Clark was re-arrested and removed to the United States, where he faces drug trafficking and murder charges.
U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement: "Crooked public officials, no matter where they are, who assist drug traffickers operating here at home will face justice in the United States."
U.S. officials will request Benítez's extradition from Colombia. If convicted, he faces a statutory maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison on each count, according to ABC News.
Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder who competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, was arrested in Mexico earlier this year and flown to California, where he pleaded not guilty to murder and drug charges. He is awaiting two separate trials. Wedding and Clark have both pleaded not guilty to their charges.
The case is part of a broader U.S. investigation into a multinational drug trafficking network allegedly run by Wedding. Dozens of people have been arrested, and authorities have seized drugs, weapons, cash, and millions of dollars worth of automobiles, motorcycles, artwork and jewelry.
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This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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