Indian-origin Deepak Paradkar, also known as ‘cocaine lawyer’ has been arrested in Canada and will be extradited to the US.
Deepak Paradkar, a famous defence lawyer in Canada, was arrested and will now be extradited to the US as the US accused him of helping murder a witness who was set to testify against Deepak’s client Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic athlete who turned into a drug lord. Deepak Paradkar is known for his high-profile clients, mostly drug lords, which also makes him popularly known as ‘cocaine lawyer’. It was the profile name that he used on social media as he posted photos of clients getting cleared of drug charges.
‘If you kill this witness, the case will be dismissed’
This is the advice that Paradkar gave to Wedding months before an FBI witness was gunned down at a restaurant in Colombia. He was shot five times in the head in January 2025. The former Olympic snowboarder ended up on the FBI’s most wanted list for allegedly running a massive drug trafficking empire from Mexico after the US authorities intercepted one of his cocaine shipments in 2024. He was to be extradited from Mexico on criminal charges but Paradkar advised him that if the FBI witness is killed, he would not have to be extradited to the US. After this advice from Paradkar, Wedding paid a Canadian website that publishes crime news to post photos of the witness and his wife to locate them. After he was located in Colombia, he was shot dead. The US indictment claimed that Wedding gave Paradkar luxury watches and additional fees for his illegal services as he was not only providing Wedding legal consultations but was an integral member of Wedding’s day-to-day operations, the US indictment alleged. According to the FBI, Paradkar also introduced Weddinng to trusted drug transportation networks and paid other defence attorneys in Canada and the US to look into anyone arrested with Wedding’s drugs. This way, authorities alleged, Paradkar could determine if anyone flipped on Wedding.
