Mexican Judge Charged With Taking $2 Million to Free Ryan Wedding's Deputy; Indictment Blacks Out Two Co-Defendants

A Mexico City judge who oversaw the extradition case of a Canadian drug trafficker has been arrested in Colombia on U.S. charges that he took a $2 million bribe to set the man free, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

Luis Benítez Alcántara, 49, was arrested Sunday in Colombia, according to the department. He is charged in a second superseding indictment with nine counts of being an accessory after the fact. The department said the grand jury in Los Angeles returned the indictment on Sept. 4 and that the United States will seek his extradition from Colombia.

The Digital Free Press reviewed the 14-page indictment the department released. It charges Benítez alongside two other defendants whose names are blacked out in the public copy. Every one of the nine counts is marked "ALL DEFENDANTS."

What the Indictment Alleges

The indictment describes Andrew Clark, a Canadian, as the "second-in-command of a billion-dollar transnational criminal organization that was the largest supplier of cocaine to Canada." The department identifies the group's leader as Ryan James Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder for Canada.

Clark was provisionally arrested in Guadalajara on Oct. 8, 2024, and ordered detained pending extradition the next day, the indictment says. He later appeared before Benítez, the district judge overseeing his extradition, where the U.S. charges against him were read aloud in English and Spanish. U.S. prosecutors formally requested his extradition on Nov. 27, 2024.

From about November 2024 through February 2025, Clark sent about $2.75 million in small increments to intermediaries to secure his release from a Mexican prison, the indictment alleges. Between about December 2024 and January 2025, he negotiated a deal to pay Benítez about $2 million in cash to order him released, according to the document.

On Feb. 24, 2025, "the same day that he received the full $2 million-bribe payment," Benítez granted Clark bond and ordered him released, the indictment alleges.

Murder Charges From the Ryan Wedding Case

The counts against Benítez track the charges Clark faces. Each accuses the defendants of assisting Clark "in order to hinder or prevent his apprehension, trial and punishment" for a specific offense. Four counts name drug conspiracy and continuing criminal enterprise charges, four name murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise, and one names attempted murder.

According to the department, Clark was re-arrested days after his release and removed to the United States, where his case is pending. Wedding, once on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, was apprehended in Mexico in January 2026 and remains in federal custody. He faces drug trafficking, murder and attempted murder charges, with trials set for March 31, 2027, and Oct. 26, 2027, the department said.

"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 the announcement.

If convicted, Benítez faces up to 15 years in prison on each count, according to the department. The indictment is signed by Blanche and by Bill Essayli as First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California. The department said the case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force created under Executive Order 14159.

An indictment is an allegation. Benítez is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

Sources: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, Nov. 5, 2026 (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/homeland-security-task-force-investigation-leads-mexican-federal-judges-arrest-us-charges); second superseding indictment, United States v. Benítez Alcántara et al. (C.D. Cal.), as released by the Justice Department (https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1470371/dl?inline).