Detained Mexican judge faces extradition to US over $2 million bribe to free alleged Canadian drug trafficker

District Judge Luis Benítez Alcántara, arrested in Colombia on Nov. 1 on charges of accepting a US $2 million bribe from drug traffickers, could face up to 15 years in prison for each of the nine charges the United States seeks to bring against him.

Luis Benítez Alcántara, 49, is accused of taking the bribe to release a suspected drug trafficker who was facing charges in an investigation into a billion-dollar drug trafficking ring, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Benítez is the first Mexican federal judge indicted by the United States, which has already requested his extradition from Colombia to face charges in the U.S.

“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. Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.

The bribery case in question involved Andrew Clark, 36, a Canadian drug trafficker and second-in-command to Ryan James Wedding, 44, a former Olympic snowboarder for Canada who led one of the biggest, most notorious and violent transnational criminal organizations.

Clark was arrested in Mexico in October 2024 on U.S. drug trafficking, murder and attempted murder charges in which Wedding was also named. U.S. officials formally requested his extradition in November 2024.

Benítez was presiding over the extradition proceedings when — after accepting the US $2 million bribe payment — he issued rulings that directly facilitated Clark’s release from custody in February 2025, according to U.S. officials.

Clark was re-arrested days later and subsequently extradited to the U.S. where he faces nine charges of distributing and possessing cocaine, methamphetamine, engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, homicide related to a criminal enterprise, attempted homicide related to a criminal enterprise, and drug trafficking offenses.

Since Benítez accepted money in exchange for releasing Clark, he is considered an accomplice.

As a result, the judge faces a nine-count U.S. grand jury indictment charging him with being an accessory after the fact. The U.S. Department of Justice also accuses him of being an accomplice in drug trafficking and homicide.

If convicted, Benítez would face a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison on each count.

“Mr. Benítez will be held accountable,” Blanche said. “The Department of Justice will continue to identify and dismantle transnational criminal organizations that threaten the security of the American people.”

The judge had a career spanning more than two decades within Mexico’s Federal Judiciary, but his record of decisions is tainted. For example, he released the only defendant in the Pegasus spying case against journalists.

The arrest of Benítez is the latest chapter in the U.S. investigation into the multinational drug trafficking network allegedly run by Wedding, who was apprehended in Mexico earlier this year.  He was then flown to California, where he pleaded not guilty to murder and drug charges.

In a related incident, Édgar Aarón Vázquez, the leader of the New Empire Cartel and accused by the U.S. of protecting Wedding in Mexico, was killed on Thursday during a confrontation with police in the State of Mexico.

Vázquez is also believed to have been the intellectual author of the July 2024 murder of Milton Morales, a top Mexico City security official.

With reports by The Associated Press, Reuters, Proceso and Reforma