Listen to this article
Estimated 3 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
The wife of an Ontario lawyer allegedly involved in a transnational drug smuggling ring told his bail hearing Thursday she never saw her husband receive luxurious gifts or suspicious amounts of cash from clients in their decades together.
Federal prosecutors are asking Mandy Paradkar about the couple’s finances, assets and work as she continues her testimony in a Toronto courtroom.
Her husband, Deepak Paradkar, is one of eight Canadians arrested on extradition warrants last month in connection with an FBI operation targeting Ryan Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder allegedly turned drug kingpin.
U.S. officials allege Deepak Paradkar, 62, advised Wedding on the murder of a federal witness and introduced the former athlete to drug traffickers who moved product through North America and paid other lawyers to provide information helpful to the criminal organization.
They further allege the lawyer — who they say was also known under the name “cocaine_lawyer” for his previous social media handle — was paid with bulk cash drops and luxury items such as watches.
Ryan Wedding, the Canadian at the centre of one of the biggest international criminal investigations in the world, continues to evade capture thanks in part, the FBI says, to protection from the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel and other criminal entities in Mexico. He’s been on the run since 2015, wanted in connection with multiple drug and conspiracy crimes, in addition to ordering and orchestrating murder.
Under cross-examination by the Crown on Thursday, his wife said that while it’s not uncommon for clients to pay lawyers in cash, none of the amounts received by her husband raised any concerns, nor did she ever see him get any gifts from clients aside from alcohol or chocolates.
Her husband never mentioned receiving any such items either, Mandy Paradkar said.
‘I believe in his innocence,’ accused’s wife tells court
“As far as you’re concerned, all the gifts that he’s generously provided you and your daughters and the trips and the cars, they all come, in your mind, from his private [law] practice,” federal prosecutor Milica Potrebic said.
“That’s correct,” Paradkar replied.
Court heard the couple own several properties, including a home assessed at roughly $5 million and a cottage, lease four luxury cars and took multiple trips costing tens of thousands of dollars in recent years.
They received an insurance settlement of about $700,000 earlier this year after a break-in in which designer bags, shoes and suits were stolen, along with jewelry and watches, court heard.
Prosecutors asked Paradkar whether the allegations, which she said she first heard at the time of her husband’s arrest, had shaken her trust in him and their bond.
“No,” she answered. “I believe in him and I believe in his innocence.”
On Wednesday, Deepak Paradkar made his pitch to be released on bail until his extradition hearing, proposing to place himself under conditions that include round-the-clock house arrest and GPS monitoring, as well as a joint pledge of $5 million with his wife.
His other surety, his wife’s cousin, is offering to put up $250,000, court heard.
Last week, the law society’s disciplinary tribunal temporarily suspended Paradkar’s licence to practise.
