A network of seemingly legitimate professionals in Canada and abroad are accused of keeping a billion-dollar drug cartel afloat under the violent leadership of former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding.
While Wedding is named as the improbable mastermind behind a vast cocaine empire — compared by the FBI to history’s most notorious drug lords Pablo Escobar and El Chapo Guzman — nine other people were also alleged by the U.S. government to form a “network of enablers” who stop him choking on a mountain of hard-to-use dirty money.
From a lawyer to a sex-trade madame, bookkeeper to special forces soldier, a wife, a girlfriend, crypto currency traders and businessmen, all face sanctions from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, as well as Wedding himself who remains a most-wanted fugitive with a US$15 million bounty for his arrest
An old aphorism on warfare says an army marches on its stomach but in organized crime, the mob runs on its money. If gangsters can’t spend, bank or invest their criminal proceeds there is little point risking gangland rivals, arrest and prison. Moving vast amounts of criminal money, however, isn’t easy.
A successful underworld requires a robust upperworld to keep going. That’s why seemingly legitimate business people and bookkeepers are can be more valued by a mob boss than hitmen and smugglers — they can be rarer and harder to train.
Here are the men and women accused by U.S. Treasury officials of helping prop up a drug empire and what they allegedly did to help. None of the allegations have been proven in court and many have not even been charged or indicted.
THE GENERAL
Edgar Aaron Vazquez Alvarado, 41, is believed to be a former Mexican law enforcement officer who maintains ties with other senior law enforcement officials. That often means corruption and bribery. He is nicknamed “The General,” perhaps because he maintains a level of control and authority.
Vazquez is responsible for providing protection for Wedding within Mexico, U.S. Treasury officials allege. One part of that is using police contacts to locate people in Mexico that Wedding targets. (Wedding is accused in multiple murders.)
The General, born in Mexico City, also owns several businesses in the country, including a private security firm and two companies dealing in wholesale fuel. He is not named in either of the U.S. indictments targeting Wedding and criminal associates.
THE BOOKKEEPER
Rolan Sokolovski, 37, of Maple, north of Toronto, is accused of overseeing bookkeeping for the Wedding organization and of being one of two chief money launderers that “manage his complex financial operations,” the U.S. Treasury Department claims. The indictment alleges he was “concealing their drug trafficking proceeds,” including receiving more than US$20 million worth of cryptocurrency in eight months.
He is a jeweller and poker player by trade and runs a jewelry business in downtown Toronto under the name Diamond Tsar, officials said. It advertises itself as a wholesale diamond dealer and engagement ring specialist.
Sokolovski is named in the U.S. indictment unsealed this week alleging he acquired luxury items for Wedding and Wedding’s alleged second-in-command, Andrew Clark. After the January murder in Colombia of a witness who was cooperating with the FBI against Wedding, Sokolovski allegedly made a bejeweled necklace as a reward for the alleged Canadian hitman.
The indictment says he is known by nicknames “The Jew” and “Sushi” and is facing charges in the United States for drug conspiracy and money laundering.
THE WIFE
Miryam Andrea Castillo Moreno, 34, is named by authorities as Wedding’s wife. She was born in Nuevo Leon, Mexico, which is a centre for Mexican cartel activity. Some media reports have said she has familial or other ties to a cartel which helped insulate Wedding and allowed him to increase his influence within the violent and crowded narco field, especially as an outsider.
U.S. authorities allege she helped launder drug proceeds for her husband and “has helped him conduct acts of violence.” There are no specifics activities outlined by authorities and she is not named in either indictment.
THE GIRLFRIEND
Perhaps U.S. officials are being intentionally provocative, but Wedding’s wife’s photograph on the Treasury’s sanctions announcement is placed right beside one of his “Colombian girlfriend.” Daniela Alejandra Acuna Macias, 23, was born in Barranquilla, Colombia. That’s home to a large port facing the Caribbean Sea that has long been a major hub for cocaine trafficking.
She has, authorities claim, collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from Wedding “to live a lifestyle funded by violent narcotics trafficking. She has assisted Wedding in obtaining information on his rivals,” Treasury officials allege. She isn’t named in either indictment.
THE MADAME
Carmen Yelinet Valoyes Florez is described by U.S. authorities as “a Colombian national who runs a high-end prostitution ring in Mexico.” Officials say she was the one who introduced the 44-year-old Wedding to his 23-year-old Colombian girlfriend. She lived in Mexico and turns 48 on Friday.
Valoyes is involved in more than matters of the heart, authorities allege. She assisted Wedding with the murder of a federal witness in January. She is named in the indictment unsealed this week as a “member and associate of the Wedding Criminal Enterprise.” Her network of sex workers was allegedly used to gather intelligence on the witness who was killed. It was through her network, according to the indictment, that the witness was discovered in Medellín, Colombia, and shot in the head.
THE SOLDIER
Gianluca Tiepolo, 50, is a former member of Italy’s special forces. He was born in Aviano, Italy, home to an Italian air base used by the U.S. Air Force and NATO.
He allegedly had two roles in the Wedding organization. One, befitting his military background, was tactical — he operated a military-style tactical training academy with camps that allegedly trained many of Wedding’s hitmen.
U.S. authorities allege The Soldier also worked with The Bookkeeper to procure and manage Wedding’s physical assets, including high-end vehicles, and “held millions of dollars in Wedding’s property under his own name to conceal these assets from authorities,” Treasury officials claim. It appears the FBI’s seizure of a rare sports car, a 2002 Mercedes CLK-GTR — valued by officials at US$13 million and said to belong to the Wedding organization — is linked to Tiepolo.
He owns two companies that trade in luxury motorcycles and cars, one in Italy and one in Britain.
THE BUSINESSMEN
Two other businessmen were also hit with economic sanctions by the U.S. Treasury this week for alleged involvement with Wedding’s empire.
Cristian Diana, 50, is an Italian citizen who was president of two of The Soldier’s companies, including the military training company Windrose Tactical, which business records show registered in Diana’s name.
John Anthony Fallon, 63, a British citizen, is named as the director of a UK-based car and motorcycle dealership. Britain’s business registry shows Fallon as a minority shareholder of the firm, with The Soldier as majority owner. Two other companies Fallon has a stake in are also sanctioned.
THE LAWYER
Deepak Paradkar is a prominent lawyer based in Brampton, Ont. He was arrested Tuesday at his home at the request of U.S. officials. He is accused of abusing his position as a lawyer to help the Wedding organization, including direct interactions with Wedding and Clark.
Shocking allegations that he helped orchestrate the murder of a witness who was betraying Wedding made him a centrepiece to a press conference with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday. The specific allegations against Paradkar
have been previously detailed by National Post
.
None of the allegation against the enables have been proven in court. Sanctions by the U.S. Treasury cut the named individuals and companies off from the U.S. economic system, including banking and interactions with American customers.
• Email: ahumphreys@postmedia.com | X: AD_Humphreys
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