Mexican Judge Arrested in Colombia on U.S. Charges of Taking a $2 Million Bribe to Free a Top Aide to Ex-Olympian Ryan Wedding's Cocaine Network, Fox News Reports
The Justice Department says Luis Benítez Alcántara freed Ryan Clark on bond the same day he received the money. He faces nine counts of being an accessory after the fact and up to 15 years. The judge has not been heard from in Fox's report.
A Mexican judge is in custody abroad on U.S. charges that he sold a cocaine trafficker's freedom, Fox News reports.
The arrest. Fox says Luis Benítez Alcántara, a district judge in Mexico City, was arrested in Colombia on Sunday. The Justice Department announced the case Thursday. He is charged with nine counts of being an accessory after the fact. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in federal prison.
The allegation. According to the superseding indictment Fox describes, Ryan Clark, a Canadian the DOJ calls second in command to former Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, was arrested in Guadalajara on Oct. 8, 2024, and appeared before Benítez for extradition proceedings the next day. Beginning in November 2024, Clark allegedly sent about $2.75 million to intermediaries over four months. On Feb. 24, 2025, Benítez allegedly received $2 million from those intermediaries and granted Clark bond and release the same day. Fox says Mexican officers arrested Clark again days later and handed him to U.S. authorities on Feb. 27, 2025. He then cooperated with the FBI, according to a DOJ indictment against Wedding.
The larger case. Wedding, a former member of the FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted list, was arrested in Mexico in January 2026 and pleaded not guilty to charges including running a criminal enterprise, murder and conspiracy to distribute cocaine. The indictment says his organization worked with Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel and was the largest supplier of cocaine to Canada. Clark and Wedding are both charged with murder and cocaine conspiracy.
The statements. FBI Director Kash Patel said Benítez "accepted $2 million in exchange for granting bond to and ordering the release of Wedding's second in command." Attorney General Todd Blanche said: "Crooked public officials, no matter where they are, who assist drug traffickers operating here at home will face justice in the United States."
Why it matters here. The case shows U.S. prosecutors reaching a foreign judge for a release order in a trafficking case that touches the border. Fox does not say whether Colombia will extradite him or where he will be tried.
What we could not check. These are allegations from an indictment. We read Fox's account, not the indictment, and Fox does not report any response from Benítez or a lawyer for him. We have not confirmed the extradition status.