A Toronto jeweller described by U.S. authorities as a chief money launderer for alleged drug kingpin Ryan Wedding has been denied bail.
Rolan Sokolovski faces extradition to California, where he’s charged in a cocaine-trafficking conspiracy linked to Wedding’s purported criminal network.
In a downtown Toronto court on Friday, Ontario Superior Court Justice Peter Bawden said it’s likely Sokolovski has access to “substantial, undisclosed” cryptocurrency, making him a “considerable” flight risk.
Wearing a dark suit jacket and shirt in the prisoner box, Sokolovski looked straight forward and showed no emotion as the judge read his decision.
Sokolovski, 37, was among eight men arrested in Canada in November amid the FBI and RCMP’s co-ordinated takedown of Wedding’s alleged criminal enterprise. Sokolovski, who went by aliases including “Sushi” and “Applepie,” has been in custody ever since.
U.S. authorities accuse Sokolovski of acting as the “de facto bank” and bookkeeper for the alleged drug ring, laundering hundreds of millions of dollars while handling cash, cryptocurrency and wire transfer payments for the group.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions in November on Sokolovski and his Thornhill, Ont.-based business, Diamond Tsar, which he allegedly used as a front to launder drug proceeds.
The Ontario judge said the U.S. case for Sokolovski’s extradition is “strong.”
Sokolovski is accused of working with a former Italian special forces member to procure high-end motorcycles and luxury vehicles for Wedding, including an ultra-rare Mercedes said to be worth $13 million US.
In December, Mexican authorities seized an estimated $40 million US worth of motorcycles amid raids on properties linked to Wedding, who was taken into U.S. custody in Mexico last month.
Wedding, a former Team Canada Olympic snowboarder, had been listed as one of the FBI’s 10 most-wanted fugitives, amid allegations he ran a violent cocaine-smuggling empire linked to Mexico’s infamous Sinaloa cartel. He has pleaded not guilty to 17 charges, including murder, drug trafficking and witness tampering.
Justice Bawden noted that after Wedding’s arrest, “it appears the Wedding [drug-trafficking organization] is in the process of being dismantled.”
Lawyer denies Sokolovski was ‘third in command’
During a previous bail hearing, a Department of Justice Canada lawyer told court Sokolovski acted as the right-hand man for Wedding’s second-in-command, Andrew Clark — effectively making Sokolovski “third in command” in Wedding’s network.
Sokolovski “was the one in control” of the criminal organization’s finances, government lawyer Heather Graham said. “He was the money-mover.”
Graham pointed to an October 2024 text message exchange between Clark and Sokolovski, as described in a police affidavit.
Clark said his cryptocurrency wallet had been blacklisted and “directed Sokolovski to change everyone’s wallets as soon as possible,” according to the affidavit from RCMP Cpl. Geneviève Laurin. “Sokolovski confirmed that he would.”
Graham said the exchange illustrates Sokolovski had control over the cryptocurrency wallets of multiple co-conspirators.
Sokolovski’s lawyer Scott Fenton underlined in court that the allegations against his client have not been proven. He said the description of his client as Wedding’s third-in-command amounted to “rhetorical flourish” and is not supported by evidence before the court.
U.S. prosecutors say a case of mistaken identity led to the deaths of the Indian couple killed in a 2023 targeting shooting north of Toronto, allegedly ordered by accused drug lord Ryan Wedding over a stolen cocaine shipment. They say Jagtar and Harbhajan Sidhu were ‘completely innocent.’
Crown seeks to appeal bail for co-accused
The Department of Justice Canada, meanwhile, has moved to challenge Bawden’s decision in December to grant bail to Deepak Paradkar, a well-known Toronto-area lawyer accused of playing a “senior role in the core operations” of Wedding’s network.
According to U.S. prosecutors, Paradkar helped obtain intelligence on police investigations and to find truckers to smuggle drugs into Canada. What’s more, Paradkar is accused of counselling Wedding and Clark in the fall of 2024 to kill an FBI witness in an effort to thwart the prosecution against them.
In a new filing in the Court of Appeal for Ontario, Graham, the DOJ Canada lawyer, wrote the lower court committed errors of law and didn’t consider all the evidence during Paradkar’s bail hearing.
Releasing Paradkar on house arrest is “clearly inappropriate” and “threatens public safety” while undermining confidence in the justice system, she said.
Paradkar, 62, has denied wrongdoing. His lawyer, Ravin Pillay, did not immediately return a request for comment Friday about the federal Crown’s request to appeal.
The FBI witness, Montreal-born Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia, was gunned down in Colombia in January 2025. CBC News reported earlier this week that investigators suspect Wedding hired the Oficina de Envigado — a notorious Colombian crime syndicate once linked to the late Pablo Escobar — to carry out the killing.
(Name withheld/U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California)
U.S. authorities said Sokolovski was later tasked with creating an ornate necklace with red jewels “as a thank you” to a Montreal-based hitman who helped locate Acebedo-Garcia.
CBC previously reported that Clark turned FBI informant after Acebedo-Garcia’s killing, unbeknownst to Wedding. Clark, a fellow Canadian who was captured in Mexico in 2024, is expected to testify against Wedding when their case is slated to go to trial in Los Angeles later this year.
