Ontario lawyer arrested in Ryan Wedding investigation testifies at bail hearing

TORONTO – An Ontario lawyer charged for extradition for his alleged role in an intercontinental drug smuggling ring made his pitch for bail Wednesday, proposing to place himself under what he called the “most stringent” conditions he’d seen in his decades-long legal career.

As his bail hearing began in Toronto, Deepak Paradkar proposed to remain on house arrest without leaving home unless accompanied by one of his sureties — his wife and her cousin — and to forgo all electronic devices except for his wife’s cellphone, to be used only in her presence and for specific purposes.

Paradkar, one of several Canadians arrested in an FBI investigation targeting Olympian-turned-fugitive Ryan Wedding, also proposed to undergo GPS monitoring and turn over his passport to RCMP.

The 62-year-old lawyer and his wife are also each pledging $2.5 million in support of his release, which he said represents almost all their assets. His wife’s cousin, meanwhile, is pledging $250,000.

“Basically, our entire life is on the line,” Paradkar said from the witness stand, dressed in a dark blue suit and light shirt.

Federal prosecutors argued Paradkar should be detained to protect the public, to maintain confidence in the justice system and because he poses a flight risk.

In an opening statement that pulled from the application for his arrest, federal Crown lawyer Heather Graham said Paradkar is alleged to have been an “integral member” of a highly organized and well-financed criminal organization “willing to employ violence, including murder.”

He’s accused of leveraging his position as a criminal defence lawyer to help the organization, introducing Wedding to trusted drug transport networks and overseeing information gathering after law enforcement seized drugs, among other allegations.

It’s also alleged the longtime lawyer from Thornhill, Ont., gave advice to Wedding about the murder of a federal witness.

Paradkar was paid with luxury items such as watches and bulk cash drops, U.S. officials allege, and the indictment notes he was also known under the name “cocaine_lawyer” — a reference to his previous handle on social media. 

The allegations have not been tested in Canadian courts, which will eventually rule on the extradition requests for Paradkar and other Canadians accused in the case.

U.S. law enforcement have painted Wedding, who appears on the FBI’s most wanted list, as a modern-day Pablo Escobar, referencing the notorious Colombian drug lord. He is believed to be on the lam in Mexico.

On the stand, Paradkar denied posing a flight risk, telling the court he has no immediate relatives in India and no ties to that country or any other.

Fleeing the country would mean abandoning his wife and daughters, as well as compromising their future and close family bonds, which Paradkar said he would “never” do.

The lawyer, who first set up practice in the 1990s, laid out his health issues as he testified Wednesday, as well as what he described as unsafe and inhumane conditions in the two Toronto jails where he has been detained since his arrest last month.

In the aftermath of a quadruple bypass surgery and a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes, Paradkar must take medication to regulate his heart rate and blood sugar, he said, both of which need to be administered at specific times and properly monitored.

He pointed to several instances in which he said his medication was delivered late as he described his experience in custody, as well as freezing cold conditions Paradkar said he was particularly vulnerable to due to his history of pneumonia.

There were also two violent fights between inmates that Paradkar said he witnessed. His current facility has been on lockdown since Sunday, he said, meaning inmates must stay in their cells around the clock.

Prosecutors pressed Paradkar on his finances and assets during cross-examination.

Paradkar’s wife began her testimony late Wednesday afternoon, summarizing her role as a surety as her husband’s “jailer at home.”

When the defence asked what she would do if her husband breached any condition of his proposed plan, she answered: “I would call the police.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2025.