A confidential witness central to the FBI investigation into a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder accused of running a murderous cross-border drug trafficking conspiracy has been killed in an apparent assassination in Colombia, the Star has learned.
The witness, who has not been identified in court documents, helped investigators dismantle a transnational drug trafficking operation allegedly led by ex-Olympian Ryan Wedding, and was expected to testify at trial in the United States.
On Wednesday morning in Toronto, at a hearing for four men facing extradition for their alleged involvement in the operation, a downtown court heard that the key witness would no longer testify at trial; the Crown, which is representing U.S. prosecutors in the case, asked that the matter be adjourned for three weeks to submit new disclosure.
There was no reason cited as to why the witness would no longer testify, but the Star can confirm he is Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia, a 42-year-old Canadian citizen who was killed in a daylight shooting in Medellin, Colombia, late last month, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.
The development casts a cloud of uncertainty over the future of a high-profile case that has made headlines around the world. It also raises questions about what this will mean for a sprawling prosecution that鈥檚 unfolding both in U.S. court and in a series of proceedings being heard in downtown Toronto.
Ryan Wedding, seen here in two photos released by the FBI.
FBIReached by the Star, Los Angeles FBI spokesperson Laura Eimiller said it would be inappropriate to comment during an ongoing investigation and prosecution. She said the FBI and its partners continue to seek the whereabouts of Wedding and ask that anyone with information contact them.
The U.S. Department of Justice also declined to answer the Star鈥檚 questions.
The RCMP and Caledon OPP have both previously declined to comment, with the provincial police force saying it does not discuss details regarding witnesses.
In the 海角社区官网court on Wednesday, lawyer Peter Thorning explained that the Crown advised him that the witness would no longer testify at trial.聽
Court documents show how investigators 鈥 the FBI 鈥 鈥渓argely relied upon the strength of a particular witness,鈥 said Thorning, the defence lawyer for Gurpreet Singh, who is accused alongside his uncle of running the transportation network for Wedding’s alleged operation.聽
鈥淵esterday afternoon ... we were advised that there鈥檚 been a change of plans 鈥 this central witness would no longer be testifying at trial,鈥 he said. 鈥淭here is no explanation as to why.鈥
Melissa Insanic, a Crown attorney who is representing the U.S. Department of Justice鈥檚 case in court, said she informed counsel on Tuesday that prosecutors would be providing 鈥渁 supplementary record of the case鈥 and had asked that the matter be adjourned for three weeks.
U.S. court documents detail how the case鈥檚 key witness previously worked with Wedding for more than a decade before agreeing in 2023 to help U.S. authorities investigate the alleged drug trafficking operation.
Drug ring allegedly run by Ryan Wedding 鈥渉as shown a callous disregard for human life,鈥 U.S.
According to Colombian authorities, Acebedo-Garcia was dining in a restaurant in a shopping centre in Medellin at around 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 31 when at least one person armed with a handgun and silencer approached him and opened fire multiple times.
He was dead by the time police arrived, Brigadier General William Casta帽o Ramos, Commander of the Polic铆a Metropolitana del Valle de Aburr谩, told the Star.
Casta帽o Ramos said police interviewed witnesses and obtained surveillance footage to identify two suspects and a motorcycle they used to escape. The motorcycle was later located in another part of the city.
鈥淚t was also established that minutes after the criminals escaped, one of them boarded a truck that was waiting for him near the place of the homicide,鈥 Casta帽o Ramos said, noting investigators obtained 鈥渒ey videos鈥 to identify the truck.
The Medellin shopping centre where Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia was shot and killed.
Google Street ViewIn their comments to the Star, Colombian authorities did not identify a motive for the shooting, but that preliminary information suggests it could have been 鈥渁 settling of scores linked to drug trafficking.鈥
Court records show Acebedo-Garcia had a criminal record in both the U.S. and Canada, and was briefly imprisoned at the same Texas prison as Wedding.
The case against Ryan Wedding
The case against Wedding involves an alleged conspiracy to traffic tonnes of cocaine into Canada from California via a network of GTA-based long-haul truckers. FBI documents further detail how the criminal organization allegedly ordered a series of assassinations to protect the network 鈥 including a targeted killing in Niagara Region and an attack in Caledon, Ont., that resulted in the deaths of an Indian couple who were mistakenly targeted over a stolen drug shipment.
Wedding, the alleged mastermind behind the criminal enterprise 鈥 which has been linked to the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel 鈥 remains a fugitive. He has been accused of ordering international assassinations; in a recent court filing, U.S. prosecutors warned that the 43-year-old still has access to a 鈥network of hit men鈥 ready to conduct more killings.
In total, 16 men were named in FBI investigation; 10 are Canadian. Four are being held in custody in Ontario as they await a hearing that will determine whether they will be extradited to the United States.
It鈥檚 been one year since Jagtar and Harbhajan Sidhu were killed in a “mistaken identity” attack
Wedding and others are facing U.S. charges over the Canadian killings because they were alleged to have been ordered in the furtherance of the U.S. criminal conspiracy.
In general, extradition courts assess the strength of a foreign prosecution to determine if an accused person should be sent out of Canada to stand trial. The judge must determine if the evidence would be , if the conduct had occurred here.
Documents filed in both the U.S. and Canada show prosecutors relied heavily on evidence obtained by the confidential witness, including recorded conversations and encrypted text messages detailing the arrangement of multiple cocaine shipments into Canada.
鈥淭his is a complex case involving a sophisticated drug-trafficking organization, whose leaders have shown a callous disregard for human life,鈥 U.S. prosecutors wrote, including 鈥渄eploying hit men to execute perceived rivals or enemies.鈥
Wedding, a 240-pound, six-foot-three former athlete who finished 24th in the men鈥檚 parallel giant slalom at the 2002 Salt Lake City games, has been said to go by aliases that include 鈥淓l Jefe,鈥 鈥淕iant,鈥 and 鈥淧ublic Enemy.鈥
Seized drugs are displayed at a news conference at the FBI offices in Los Angeles on Oct. 17, 2024.
AP Photo/Damian DovarganesHe has been on the lam since October, when the FBI announced a sweeping indictment alleging that he and another Canadian, Andrew Clark, ran the network that moved cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, to Canada, and ordered hitmen to pursue a 鈥渕urder list鈥 of targets.
The FBI has said that Wedding and Clark were living in Mexico under the protection of the notorious Sinaloa cartel. Clark was arrested in Mexico in October, while authorities believe Wedding may still be hiding somewhere south of the U.S. border.
It鈥檚 unclear how the absence of the cooperating witness at a trial will affect the case, but court documents detail how the person鈥檚 role helped investigators track the whereabouts of Wedding and his co-accused over many months.
In them, prosecutors allege that in January 2024, at the direction of U.S. law enforcement, the witness met with Clark and Wedding in Mexico City to arrange for the transportation of a drug shipment to Canada.
鈥淐lark told the (witness) that Wedding would transport up to 350 kilograms of cocaine at a time,鈥 the documents say.
Who was Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia
Court records obtained by the Star say Acebedo-Garcia, was born in Montreal and worked for his family’s cleaning business. Corporate records list him as the director for several Quebec businesses, including a bar, a numbered company, a gas station and a used car dealer.
In 2008, Acebedo-Garcia was charged in Quebec with theft-related offences, and five years later, was sentenced to a fine, Canadian documents show.
Later, in February 2009, Acebedo-Garcia and two other men were arrested during a traffic stop in New York state. Border agents searching the van they were renting and found 23,000 ecstasy pills that tests later revealed contained 鈥渦nmeasurable鈥 amounts of meth, procaine and other substances, court documents say.
In 2010, Acebedo-Garcia pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to traffic drugs and was sentenced to a little more than four years in prison. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, he served part of his sentence at the Reeves Correctional Facility 鈥 the same place where Wedding was serving time after he was convicted of trafficking cocaine in California in 2008.
Gurpreet Singh, left, and his uncle, Hardeep Ratte.
Ontario Superior Court ExhibitAt trial, the officer who arrested Acebedo-Garcia and his two accomplices testified that he was tipped off about the men鈥檚 van by a confidential informant. Court documents also reveal that at the time, Acebedo-Garcia was involved in a 鈥渓arge-scale drug smuggling organization.鈥
Prosecutors wrote: 鈥淭he primary, and maybe sole, purpose of the organization that the defendant worked for was to smuggle large amounts of narcotics from Canada into the United States. The defendant鈥檚 role in that endeavour was not only integral, it was indispensable.鈥
According to the FBI investigation, the key witness met with Hardeep Ratte and Gurpreet Singh, his nephew 鈥 the two men accused of running the transportation network for Wedding 鈥 in 海角社区官网in February 2024. During the recorded conversation, the documents allege, Ratte agreed to transport cocaine for a flat rate of $220,000 per shipment.
Prosecutors allege that the pair, who are awaiting bail hearings at extradition court in Toronto, would go on to co-ordinate the transport of 650 kilograms of cocaine for Wedding from the Los Angeles area into Canada between February and April of last year, an amount valued at between $8.45 million and $9.1 million (US).
The allegations against Ratte, Singh and the other Canadian co-accused have not been tested in court.
Who were the victims of the Caledon murders?
The investigation into Wedding鈥檚 alleged operation began after the killings of Jagtar Singh Sidhu, 57, and his wife Harbhajan Kaur Sidhu, 55, inside the Caledon home their adult children had been renting.
Surviving victim Jaspreet Kaur Sidhu.
Richard Lautens/海角社区官网StarThe couple were visiting from India and had only been in Canada a few months before they were gunned down.
The attack on Nov. 20, 2023, also left their daughter, Jaspreet, fighting for her life. She was shot 13 times but survived and is still recovering from her injuries.
According to the FBI, the Sidhus were killed when Wedding and Clark sent gunmen after an individual they blamed for the theft of a cocaine shipment.聽
More than a year later, the gunmen haven鈥檛 been caught.
