Luis Benítez Alcántara, a Mexican judge accused of accepting a bribe to release a transnational cocaine smuggler, was arrested in Colombia on Sunday after the U.S. charged him with nine counts of being an accessory after the fact. Benítez, according to a Thursday announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice, accepted a $2 million bribe from Canadian national Ryan Clark, who the DOJ alleges was second-in-command to former Olympic snowboarder Ryan J.
Wedding in the latter's international drug dealing empire. "Benítez Alcántara was a district judge in Mexico City who allegedly accepted $2 million in exchange for granting bond to and ordering the release of Wedding’s second in command, while Wedding was orchestrating a billion-dollar transnational criminal organization and the largest supplier of cocaine to Canada with connections in Colombia, Mexico, and the U.S.," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement. US CHARGES MEXICAN GOVERNOR, TOP OFFICIALS IN CARTEL CONSPIRACY AS MEXICO FIRES BACK OVER PROOF Clark was initially arrested in Guadalajara, Mexico on Oct. 8, 2024, according to a superseding indictment.
He appeared in front of Benítez for extradition proceedings on Oct. 9 after the U.S. requested his extradition. Beginning in Nov. 2024, Clark sent approximately $2.75 million to intermediaries over the course of four months, according to the indictment. On Feb. 24, 2025, Benítez received $2 million in payments from those intermediaries and granted Clark bond and release that same day, per the indictment.
Among the nine counts, Benítez is charged with being an accessory after the fact to aid and abet Clark. Clark and Wedding are also charged with murder, conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine and continuing a criminal enterprise, according to the indictment. If convicted, Benítez faces up to 15 years in federal prison.
"Crooked public officials, no matter where they are, who assist drug traffickers operating here at home will face justice in the United States," Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. "Thanks to the work of the Homeland Security Task Force and our international law enforcement partners, Mr. Benítez will be held accountable.
The Department of Justice will continue identifying and dismantling transnational criminal organizations that threaten the safety of the American people," Blanche concluded. HIGHEST-RANKING TREN DE ARAGUA MEMBER EVER EXTRADITED TO US SET TO APPEAR IN HOUSTON COURTROOM: DOJ Despite Benítez's role in granting Clark bond and release, Mexican law enforcement officers arrested Clark again days later and handed him over to U.S. authorities on Feb. 27, 2025. Following Clark's arrest, he cooperated with FBI and U.S. officials in supplying information about his and Wedding's roles in their criminal enterprise, according to a DOJ indictment against Wedding.
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