A bail hearing spanning two days is scheduled for a Calgary resident accused of aiding alleged Canadian drug kingpin Ryan Wedding in orchestrating the assassination of an FBI informant. Allistair Chapman appeared in court in Calgary on Friday morning, coinciding with the FBI’s revelation of Wedding’s arrest in Mexico. Seeking release prior to his extradition hearing, Chapman’s defense attorney, Chad Haggerty, set the bail hearing for February 4 and 5.
Wedding, a former Team Canada Olympic snowboarder turned fugitive, was apprehended in Mexico following his listing on the FBI’s top 10 most wanted list, with a $15 million reward for his capture. FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed Wedding’s arrest and transfer to the U.S. on Thursday.
Chapman is alleged to be associated with the “Wedding Criminal Enterprise” as outlined in the unsealed federal grand jury indictment, having been detained on extradition warrants in November. He faces charges including conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to retaliate against a witness, and other organized crime offenses.
In addition to the drug trafficking accusations, U.S. authorities claim Chapman collaborated with Wedding in arranging the murder of an FBI informant. This involved providing a photo of the informant to a co-conspirator and compensating them to post it on the Dirty News website, facilitating the target’s identification and subsequent assassination. The informant was fatally shot five times in a Colombian restaurant three months after the photo was shared online.