Mexican judge faces US indictment over alleged $2 million bribe

A Mexican judge accused of accepting $2 million in bribes to release a Canadian man from custody has been arrested in Colombia, U.S. officials said Thursday. The man, Andrew Clark, was the subject of extradition proceedings in Mexico tied to a U.S. investigation into an alleged drug network led by former Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding.

The judge, Benítez Alcántara, 49, was overseeing Clark’s extradition proceedings in Mexico in 2024, the U.S. Justice Department said. Prosecutors allege Benítez accepted the payments and released Clark from custody. CBS News identified the judge as Luiz Benítez Alcántara; The Guardian spelled his first name Luis.

Separately, Clark was charged in the United States with helping run a billion-dollar drug trafficking group allegedly headed by Wedding, according to the Justice Department. Clark was arrested days after his release in Mexico and taken to the United States, where he faces drug trafficking and murder charges. His attorney, Matthew Lombard, did not immediately respond to messages Thursday.

Benítez was arrested Sunday in Colombia and is charged in a nine-count U.S. indictment with being an accessory after the fact, the Justice Department said. U.S. officials plan to request his extradition from Colombia. It was not immediately known whether he has a lawyer.

“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 department’s statement.

The judge’s arrest is part of a wider U.S. investigation into the alleged multinational network linked to Wedding. Authorities accuse the former Canadian Olympic snowboarder 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 network. Investigators have seized large volumes of drugs, weapons and cash, along with automobiles, motorcycles, artwork and jewelry worth millions of dollars.

CBS News reported that Wedding competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and was added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list last year, before his arrest. The FBI says he used aliases including “El Jefe,” “Giant” and “Public Enemy.”

After Wedding’s arrest, FBI Director Kash Patel called him “a modern-day ‘El Chapo,’” referring to Joaquin Guzman, a former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel who is serving a life sentence in the United States. CBS News reported that Patel said Wedding ran his alleged operation as a member of the cartel and was believed to have hidden in Mexico for more than a decade.