A Toronto jeweller described by U.S. authorities as a chief money launderer for alleged drug kingpin Ryan Wedding ceremony has been denied bail.
Rolan Sokolovski faces extradition to California, the place he is charged in a cocaine-trafficking conspiracy linked to Wedding’s purported prison community.
In a downtown Toronto court docket on Friday, Ontario Superior Court docket Justice Peter Bawden stated it is seemingly Sokolovski has entry to “substantial, undisclosed” cryptocurrency, making him a “appreciable” flight threat.
Sporting a darkish swimsuit jacket and shirt within the prisoner field, Sokolovski appeared straight ahead and confirmed no emotion because the choose learn his resolution.
Sokolovski, 37, was amongst eight males arrested in Canada in November amid the FBI and RCMP’s co-ordinated takedown of Wedding’s alleged prison enterprise. Sokolovski, who glided by aliases together with “Sushi” and “Applepie,” has been in custody ever since.
U.S. authorities accuse Sokolovski of performing because the “de facto financial institution” and bookkeeper for the alleged drug ring, laundering lots of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} whereas dealing with money, cryptocurrency and wire switch funds for the group.
The U.S. Treasury Division introduced sanctions in November on Sokolovski and his Thornhill, Ont.-based enterprise, Diamond Tsar, which he allegedly used as a entrance to launder drug proceeds.
The Ontario choose stated the U.S. case for Sokolovski’s extradition is “robust.”
Sokolovski is accused of working with a former Italian particular forces member to obtain high-end bikes and luxurious automobiles for Wedding ceremony, together with an ultra-rare Mercedes stated to be price $13 million US.
In December, Mexican authorities seized an estimated $40 million US price of bikes amid raids on properties linked to Wedding ceremony, who was taken into U.S. custody in Mexico final month.
Wedding ceremony, a former Crew Canada Olympic snowboarder, had been listed as one of many FBI’s 10 most-wanted fugitives, amid allegations he ran a violent cocaine-smuggling empire linked to Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa cartel. He has pleaded not responsible to 17 costs, together with homicide, drug trafficking and witness tampering.
Justice Bawden famous that after Wedding’s arrest, “it seems the Wedding ceremony [drug-trafficking organization] is within the means of being dismantled.”
Lawyer denies Sokolovski was ‘third in command’
Throughout a earlier bail listening to, a Division of Justice Canada lawyer instructed court docket Sokolovski acted because the right-hand man for Wedding’s second-in-command, Andrew Clark — successfully making Sokolovski “third in command” in Wedding’s community.
Sokolovski “was the one in management” of the prison group’s funds, authorities lawyer Heather Graham stated. “He was the money-mover.”
Graham pointed to an October 2024 textual content message trade between Clark and Sokolovski, as described in a police affidavit.
Clark stated his cryptocurrency pockets had been blacklisted and “directed Sokolovski to vary everybody’s wallets as quickly as doable,” in accordance with the affidavit from RCMP Cpl. Geneviève Laurin. “Sokolovski confirmed that he would.”
Graham stated the trade illustrates Sokolovski had management over the cryptocurrency wallets of a number of co-conspirators.
Sokolovski’s lawyer Scott Fenton underlined in court docket that the allegations towards his consumer haven’t been confirmed. He stated the outline of his consumer as Wedding’s third-in-command amounted to “rhetorical flourish” and isn’t supported by proof earlier than the court docket.
U.S. prosecutors say a case of mistaken id led to the deaths of the Indian couple killed in a 2023 focusing on taking pictures north of Toronto, allegedly ordered by accused drug lord Ryan Wedding ceremony over a stolen cocaine cargo. They are saying Jagtar and Harbhajan Sidhu had been ‘utterly harmless.’
Crown seeks to attraction bail for co-accused
The Division of Justice Canada, in the meantime, has moved to problem Bawden’s resolution in December to grant bail to Deepak Paradkar, a well known Toronto-area lawyer accused of taking part in a “senior function within the core operations” of Wedding’s community.
In response to U.S. prosecutors, Paradkar helped get hold of intelligence on police investigations and to seek out truckers to smuggle medicine into Canada. What’s extra, Paradkar is accused of counselling Wedding ceremony and Clark within the fall of 2024 to kill an FBI witness in an effort to thwart the prosecution towards them.
In a brand new submitting within the Court docket of Attraction for Ontario, Graham, the DOJ Canada lawyer, wrote the decrease court docket dedicated errors of regulation and did not think about all of the proof throughout Paradkar’s bail listening to.
Releasing Paradkar on home arrest is “clearly inappropriate” and “threatens public security” whereas undermining confidence within the justice system, she stated.
Paradkar, 62, has denied wrongdoing. His lawyer, Ravin Pillay, didn’t instantly return a request for remark Friday in regards to the federal Crown’s request to attraction.
The FBI witness, Montreal-born Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia, was gunned down in Colombia in January 2025. CBC Information reported earlier this week that investigators suspect Wedding ceremony employed the Oficina de Envigado — a infamous Colombian crime syndicate as soon as linked to the late Pablo Escobar — to hold out the killing.
(Identify withheld/U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace, Central District of California)
U.S. authorities stated Sokolovski was later tasked with creating an ornate necklace with purple jewels “as a thanks” to a Montreal-based hitman who helped find Acebedo-Garcia.
An Alberta court docket on Friday additionally denied bail to Allistair Chapman, one other alleged confederate accused of serving to observe down the homicide sufferer.
CBC beforehand reported that Clark turned FBI informant after Acebedo-Garcia’s killing, unbeknownst to Wedding ceremony. Clark, a fellow Canadian who was captured in Mexico in 2024, is predicted to testify towards Wedding ceremony when their case is slated to go to trial in Los Angeles later this 12 months.
