Mexican judge accused by U.S. of taking bribes in major drug case

A Mexican judge has been arrested and accused of accepting $2 million in bribes in exchange for releasing a suspected Canadian drug trafficker from custody, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Luiz Benítez Alcántara was overseeing extradition proceedings in Mexico in 2024 for Canadian citizen Andrew Clark, who was charged in the U.S. with helping to run a billion-dollar drug trafficking group allegedly headed by former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, the Justice Department said in a statement. Benítez is accused of releasing Clark from custody after accepting the bribe payments, according to the statement.

Clark was arrested days after his release and removed to the United States, where he faces drug trafficking and murder charges.

The statement said Benítez, 49, was arrested Sunday in Colombia. He is charged in a nine-count indictment with being an accessory after the fact. It was not immediately known if he has a lawyer.

U.S. officials will request Benítez's extradition from Colombia, the statement said.

"Crooked public officials, no matter where they are, who assist drug traffickers operating here at home will face justice in the United States," U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said in the statement.

It's the latest arrest in the U.S. investigation into a multinational drug trafficking network allegedly run by Wedding, who became a top FBI fugitive accused of moving cocaine from Latin America into the United States and orchestrating several killings. Wedding was arrested in Mexico earlier this year and flown to California, where he pleaded not guilty to murder and drug charges.

Dozens of people have been arrested in connection with the alleged drug network and authorities seized large volumes of drugs, weapons and cash, as well as millions of dollars worth of automobiles, motorcycles, artwork and jewelry in its investigation.

Clark's attorney, Matthew Lombard, did not immediately respond to messages Thursday.

After Wedding's arrest, FBI Director Kash Patel called the former Olympian "a modern-day 'El Chapo,'" — a reference to Joaquin Guzman, a one-time leader of the notorious Mexican drug ring known as the Sinaloa Cartel who is serving a life sentence in the U.S. According to the FBI, Wedding also used aliases, including "El Jefe," "Giant" and "Public Enemy."

Wedding, who competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, has been accused of running a major drug trafficking network that moved cocaine from Colombia through Mexico to the U.S. and Canada. Patel said in a social media post Friday that Wedding was running his alleged operation as a member of the Sinaloa Cartel, and that Wedding was believed to have been hiding out in Mexico for over a decade.

Wedding was added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list last year, prior to his arrest.

In:

• Drug Trafficking
• Mexico

FBI arrests former Olympic snowboarder accused of being drug kingpin