Mexico Auctions Ryan Wedding’s Motorcycles for 30 Million Pesos
Mexico's Indep sold 30 of Ryan Wedding's seized motorcycles on day one of a two-day Mexico City auction, taking in over 30 million pesos.
Mexico’s Treasury should receive close to 60 million pesos (US $3.2 million) from a two-day Mexico City auction of motorcycles seized from Canadian drug trafficker Ryan Wedding, Mexico News Daily reports. The agency running the sale, the Institute to Return Stolen Goods to the Public (Indep), listed 62 high-end and racing motorcycles with an estimated worth of about US $40 million.
Wednesday’s session covered the first 30 lots and brought in more than 30 million pesos (US $1.6 million), according to Indep. That is over half of the projected total.
Day one results
Roughly 100 collectors and specialty firms attended. A single U.S. company took nine of the motorcycles for 17 million pesos (US $913,000). Winning bids ran far above the opening prices, Mexico News Daily said.
A 2006 Ducati Desmosedici GP7 drew the most interest. Bidding opened at 2.5 million pesos (US $134,000) and ended at 4.5 million pesos (US $242,000). One of the earliest lots was a Ducati Desmosedici GP15, a prototype the manufacturer raced in MotoGP’s top class in 2015, with a starting bid of US $112,000.
The rest of the collection
Bikes once ridden by Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Márquez are in the lineup, along with MotoGP and Superbike racing prototypes and historic machines. Kawasaki, MV Agusta and Yamaha classics from the 1950s round out the list.
Motorcycles drew the most attention, but the week’s sales ran to more than 600 lots of movable goods. Aircraft, boats, jewelry, electric vehicles, personal cars and armored vehicles were also offered.
Background on the seizure
Authorities took the motorcycles last December during raids on four properties in Mexico City and México state connected to Wedding, a former Olympic athlete nicknamed The King of Cocaine. He was arrested in Mexico in January. A U.S. federal prison in Los Angeles now holds him while he awaits trial on murder charges and on charges of running a transnational cocaine trafficking network linked to the Sinaloa Cartel.
What this means for the proceeds
Proceeds go to the Office of the Presidency for social justice projects. Named beneficiaries include the widows of the 2006 Pasta de Conchos mine disaster and Indigenous Raramuri and Amuzgo communities.
Mexico News Daily drew on reporting from El País, Aristegui Noticias and Radio Fórmula.
Source: Mexico News Daily
