Mexican judge arrested after U.S. charges him of accepting $2M bribe in case linked to former Olympian
Luis Benítez Alcántara, a Mexican judge accused of accepting a bribe to release a transnational cocaine smuggler, was arrested in Colombia on Sunday after the U.S. charged him with nine counts of being an accessory after the fact.
Benítez, according to a Thursday announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice, accepted a $2 million bribe from Canadian national Ryan Clark, who the DOJ alleges was second-in-command to former Olympic snowboarder Ryan J. Wedding in the latter's international drug dealing empire.
"Benítez Alcántara was a district judge in Mexico City who allegedly accepted $2 million in exchange for granting bond to and ordering the release of Wedding’s second in command, while Wedding was orchestrating a billion-dollar transnational criminal organization and the largest supplier of cocaine to Canada with connections in Colombia, Mexico, and the U.S.," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement.
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Clark was initially arrested in Guadalajara, Mexico on Oct. 8, 2024, according to a superseding indictment. He appeared in front of Benítez for extradition proceedings on Oct. 9 after the U.S. requested his extradition.
Judge Luis Benítez Alcántara in custody. (U.S. Department of Justice)
Beginning in Nov. 2024, Clark sent approximately $2.75 million to intermediaries over the course of four months, according to the indictment. On Feb. 24, 2025, Benítez received $2 million in payments from those intermediaries and granted Clark bond and release that same day, per the indictment.
Among the nine counts, Benítez is charged with being an accessory after the fact to aid and abet Clark.
Clark and Wedding are also charged with murder, conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine and continuing a criminal enterprise, according to the indictment.
If convicted, Benítez faces up to 15 years in federal prison.
"Crooked public officials, no matter where they are, who assist drug traffickers operating here at home will face justice in the United States," Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.
"Thanks to the work of the Homeland Security Task Force and our international law enforcement partners, Mr. Benítez will be held accountable. The Department of Justice will continue identifying and dismantling transnational criminal organizations that threaten the safety of the American people," Blanche concluded.
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Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks during a news conference at the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice building on April 7, 2026. (Getty Images)
Despite Benítez's role in granting Clark bond and release, Mexican law enforcement officers arrested Clark again days later and handed him over to U.S. authorities on Feb. 27, 2025.
Following Clark's arrest, he cooperated with FBI and U.S. officials in supplying information about his and Wedding's roles in their criminal enterprise, according to a DOJ indictment against Wedding.
Wedding, a former member of the FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted List, was arrested in Mexico in January 2026.
In addition to running a cocaine distribution empire that the indictment alleges imported the majority of illicit cocaine into Canada, Wedding is also accused of orchestrating the murders of numerous informants and other affiliates of his illicit activities.
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Ryan Wedding, wanted by the FBI, was seen taking a practice run for the men's parallel giant slalom of the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Park City, Feb. 13, 2002. (FBI | REUTERS/Jeff J Mitchell)
In January, he pleaded not guilty to federal charges of running a criminal enterprise, murder, conspiring to distribute cocaine and other crimes.
His empire allegedly worked in concert with the powerful Mexican Sinaloa Cartel to move and distribute cocaine through Colombia, Mexico and the rest of North America, according to the indictment.
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"This individual and his organization and the Sinaloa cartel poured narcotics into the streets of North America and killed too many of our youth and corrupted too many of our citizens. And that ends today," FBI Director Kash Patel said in January after Wedding's arrest.
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