A Calgary man accused of working for alleged Canadian drug lord Ryan Wedding has been denied bail, with the judge describing his continued detention as “necessary to maintain the public’s confidence in the administration of justice.”

Allistair Chapman, 33, was arrested in Alberta on extradition warrants in November. He is accused of cocaine trafficking and helping Wedding set up the murder of an FBI informant. 

On Friday, Court of King’s Bench Justice Paul Jeffrey ruled that Chapman could not be seen to benefit “from the very system of justice his acts were designed to sabotage.”

“The killing of a prosecution witness circumvents the rule of law and impairs the criminal justice system’s ability to protect society,” said Jeffrey. 

During the bail hearing, the Crown described Chapman as an “intermediary” and a “loyal soldier” in the Wedding criminal enterprise, an alleged billion-dollar drug trafficking ring that operates in Mexico, Colombia, Canada and the U.S.

In November, Chapman and seven others were arrested in Canada on extradition warrants, two months before the FBI nabbed Wedding, one of their most wanted fugitives. The U.S. government had offered a $15-million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction. 

In relation to the drug charges, Jeffrey described the prosecution’s case against Chapman as “weak at best,” but said the evidence relating to his role in the murder is “based on higher quality evidence.”

‘The opportunity to murder’

Chapman is accused of paying the Dirty News website operator $10,000 to post a photo of Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia, who was co-operating with the FBI and was expected to testify against Wedding.

Acebedo-Garcia, a Montreal-born former drug trafficker who became an FBI informant in late 2023, was gunned down in a Colombia restaurant last year, two months after his photo was posted to the website. 

An image of his dead body was circulated among Wedding associates along with a text describing him as a “rat.”

“While Chapman did not pull the trigger, he knew the purpose of the work he was assigned was the murder of [the witness],” wrote Jeffrey. 

“He knew that if he succeeded in the tasks assigned him, it would lead to the opportunity to murder, to silence him from testifying against Wedding … and it would mete out Wedding’s consequence for having ‘ratted’ on them.”

Chapman, parents warned about threats

Chapman’s defence team offered a $500,000 surety, put up by their client’s parents, and proposed conditions, including a curfew and an ankle monitor.

During the bail hearing, Department of Justice lawyer Anne-Renee Touchette told the judge that on three occasions, police executed a “duty to warn,” where officers contacted Chapman to warn him of a credible threat to his life. The most recent warning took place last year. 

Court also heard that Chapman’s parents received a warning from police that there was a credible threat on their lives, causing them to sell their home and move — another factor in the judge’s decision to deny bail.

Jeffrey wrote that Chapman’s parents are “far less equipped or trained in ensuring Chapman’s safety, not to mention their own, as are his jailors if he is detained in custody.”

Co-accused denied bail

Earlier on Friday, Rolan Sokolovski, a Toronto jeweller described by U.S. authorities as a chief money launderer for Wedding, was also denied bail.

And while Toronto-area lawyer Deepak Paradkar, who is accused of acting as a fixer for Wedding and his right-hand man Andrew Clark, was released on bail in December, CBC News confirmed Friday that the federal Crown is seeking to appeal that decision.

A date for Chapman’s extradition hearing has not been set.

Chapman previously faced organized crime and drug trafficking charges, which were ultimately stayed in 2020 after a judge ruled the case took too long to get to trial.