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A Calgary man accused of working for an alleged Canadian drug lord and helping to set up the murder of an FBI informant was described by the prosecution as a “loyal soldier” who should not be granted bail, in part because the Crown doubts his parents ability to “control him.”
Allistair Chapman, 33, faces extradition to California on charges including conspiracy to traffic cocaine and conspiracy to murder.
A two-day bail hearing is underway in Calgary’s Court of King’s Bench before Justice Paul Jeffrey.
On Wednesday, Chapman’s team of lawyers — Noel O’Brien, Gavin Wolch and Chad Haggerty — offered a $500,000 surety, put up by their client’s parents, and proposed conditions, including a curfew.
‘Flimsy’ case, argues defence
But Canadian Department of Justice lawyer Anne-Renee Touchette argued on Thursday that Chapman’s parents cannot be relied on as sureties.
“We’re doubting their capability to control him,” said Touchette.
“[His father] doesn’t know what his son is doing, the work he’s done, the income, how he pays his bills … they don’t know anything about his life.”
Touchette also told the court that in 2019, while on bail and living with his parents, a police report shows Chapman met up with people “who were involved in drug trafficking.”
The charges he faced back then — including organized crime, drug trafficking and firearms offences — were ultimately stayed in 2020 after a judge ruled Chapman’s case took too long to get to trial.
But O’Brien called the Crown’s case against his client “flimsy.”
Chapman, he argued, is entitled to the presumption of innocence, has no criminal record and spent two and a half years on bail conditions with no breaches.
Crown says Chapman an ‘intermediary’
In opposing bail, Touchette also raised concerns about the fact that Chapman has been the subject of three recent instances when police issued a “duty to warn” — when officers contact a person to warn them of a credible threat to their life or safety.
In late 2025, Chapman and several other Canadians were arrested on extradition warrants alleging their involvement in the Wedding criminal enterprise, a billion-dollar drug trafficking ring that police allege operates in Mexico, Colombia, Canada and the U.S. Investigators say it is the largest supplier of cocaine to Canada.
The prosecution described Chapman as an “intermediary” within the organization.
“He’s a loyal soldier,” said Touchette.
Crown ‘jumped to conclusions’: defence
On top of the drug trafficking allegations, Chapman is also accused of paying the Dirty News website operator $10,000 to post a photo of a man who was co-operating with the FBI and was expected to testify against Wedding.
The witness was gunned down in a Colombia restaurant last year.
O’Brien told the judge that the American case against his client doesn’t link him to a murder plot.
“There’s no indication that Mr. Chapman was told, ‘We’re going to kill this guy,’” said O’Brien.
O’Brien told the court that the Crown has “jumped to conclusions” and called the Crown’s submissions “a distraction and a smear.”
