Ex-Mexico City Judge Arrested in Colombia Over $2 Million Bribe
A former Mexico City district judge was arrested in Colombia, accused by the US of taking $2 million to free a top aide of Ryan Wedding's drug network.
Luis Benítez Alcántara, a former district judge in Mexico City, was arrested in Colombia on Sunday, the U.S. Department of Justice said. American prosecutors accuse him of accepting a $2 million bribe to free Andrew Clark, a Canadian they describe as the second in command of the drug trafficking network run by Ryan Wedding.
The 49-year-old faces nine federal charges in the United States. He will stay in Colombia under local legal proceedings while Washington works to have him extradited, according to Expansión Política.
How the judge allegedly helped a cartel lieutenant
Clark had been detained in Mexico at the request of the U.S. government, which wanted him on drug trafficking and homicide charges. His extradition case was before Benítez Alcántara, then a district judge in Mexico City.
U.S. investigators say the judge used the powers of his post to favor Clark during that process. According to the FBI, the alleged payment bought a decision granting Clark bond and ordering his release. Expansión Política refers to Benítez Alcántara as a former judge, and the U.S. charges describe him as a district judge at the time of the events.
Each of the nine counts is for being an accessory after the fact. Prosecutors say he helped Clark in order to hinder or prevent his arrest, trial or punishment. The FBI said the judge acted while Wedding was running the organization.
Who Ryan Wedding is
Wedding once appeared on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. The bureau describes his group as a billion-dollar transnational criminal organization and the largest supplier of cocaine to Canada, with ties in Colombia, Mexico and the United States.
The FBI credited its Los Angeles field office, its law enforcement attaché in Bogotá, local partners in Colombia and the Justice Department for the arrest.
Why it matters for Mexico City
The case puts a Mexico City courtroom at the center of a U.S. investigation into a drug network the FBI once ranked among its top targets. Extradition proceedings before district judges in the capital decide whether people wanted abroad are handed over or released, and the U.S. allegation is that one of those decisions was paid for.
The arrest is also a U.S.-Mexico security case that played out in a third country: American agents and their partners caught the former Mexican judge in Colombia, where he now waits for an extradition decision.
For residents, the practical point is narrower: the accusations concern one judge and one extradition case, and they have not been tested in court. Benítez Alcántara has not been convicted of any crime, and no response from him or his lawyers was reported.
What happens next
Benítez Alcántara will remain in Colombian custody while U.S. officials pursue his extradition. If Colombia hands him over, he would face the nine counts in a U.S. federal court. Whether Clark has been located since his release was not disclosed in the announcements, and neither the Justice Department nor the FBI gave a timetable for the extradition request.
Source: Expansión Política
