Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder turned drug kingpin Ryan Wedding has landed himself on the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List. He is accused of running a transnational criminal enterprise dealing in drug trafficking, witness tampering and intimidation, murders, and money laundering.FBI Director Kash Patel shared in a public statement that the 44-year-old Wedding was:“Responsible for engineering a narco trafficking and narco terrorism programme that we have not seen in a long time.”In the wake of the statement, the Department of Justice has announced a $15 million reward for his capture. Ryan Wedding is reportedly taking shelter in Mexico under the protection of the Sinaloa drug cartel.Meanwhile, at least ten associates of Wedding were arrested by U.S. federal authorities on Tuesday. One of them is his lawyer, Deepak Balwant Paradkar. He is a 62-year-old criminal defense attorney from Thornhill, Ontario, Canada.According to the DOJ, in 2024, Deepak Paradkar advised Ryan Wedding to allegedly murder a witness to avoid getting extradited to the USA from Mexico amid the mounting federal criminal charges against him. The witness, Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia, was later killed in Medellin, Colombia, in January 2025.More about Ryan Wedding’s attorneyAccording to the Toronto Star, Deepak Balwant Paradkar was born in India and relocated to Scarborough, Canada, at the age of seven. He now has dual citizenship of India and Canada. His father is a Presbyterian minister.Paradkar obtained his law degree from the University of Windsor and started his legal practice on Bay Street in Downtown Toronto, often referred to as the Canadian Financial District. However, he didn’t like the “hierarchy” and soon went solo.Deepak Paradkar soon established his reputation as a criminal defence attorney in Brampton, Toronto, Canada. Besides Ryan Wedding, he took on other high-profile clients, including a Jamaican bobsledder who was accused of smuggling cocaine to Canada and a Yemeni individual who was arrested in Toronto in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks in the USA.Nicknamed “Napoleon” for his cutthroat defense tactics inside GTA courtrooms, Paradkar faced controversy in 2017 after he was accused of delivering his client and convicted killer Dellen Millard’s threatening letters from prison all the way to his girlfriend Christina Noudga's house, despite the woman being on a court-ordered no-contact list.Subsequently, Deepak stepped down from representing Dellen. However, he denied any wrongdoing on his part. At the time, he told The Canadian Press:“I deny or refute any suggestion that I’ve done anything unethical or untoward in any case, including this one.”Millard was later sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Tim Bosma.Over the years, Deepak Paradkar has also gained attention for his Instagram account @cocaine_lawyer, where he often boasted about successfully defending drug lords and offered a glimpse into his luxurious lifestyle. The account has been deactivated as of this week.However, he also faced consequences for his explicit Instagram posts about illegal drug operations and organized crime in 2017 and was ostracized by the Ontario Law Society.During a June 2013 interview with the Toronto Star, Ryan Wedding’s lawyer shared that he treats “trials like wars.” He also explained the reason behind his nickname, Napoleon.“I’ve been emulating Napoleon [Bonaparte] since I was 16 because he came from nothing and became one of the great generals.”In the same interview, he also shared that self-help gurus, including Deepak Chopra, Anthony Robbins, and Napoleon Hill, were his inspirations.“I always visualized the house I would live in, what I would drive, and the lifestyle I would have. I believe if you can see where you want to be in life, you shoot for the stars,” Paradkar, who’s also nicknamed ‘Descartes’ and ‘Deepaj Emergency’ stated.Notably, Deepark Balwant Paradkar has a daughter named Madeline Paradkar, who is a Canadian-born, Chicago-based lawyer. According to the DOJ, Madeline, 27, is currently facing an immigration action. However, whether that has anything to do with her father or Ryan Wedding’s case remains undisclosed.In brief, exploring the charges against Deepak ParadkarThe United States Treasury Department cited on its website that Deepak Paradkar “provided a range of illegal services” to Ryan Wedding and his “drug trafficking organization,” which went “beyond the scope of a normal attorney-client relationship.”The charges against Paradkar include introducing the ex-Olympian to drug traffickers, helping him to emerge as one of the biggest cocaine suppliers in Canada, and advising him to take bribes and murder witnesses.Not only that, but the defense lawyer has been accused of violating the trust and attorney-client privilege of his other clients and the ethics of his legal practice by allowing Ryan Wedding to tap into his communications with the said clients.Paradkar is also facing charges of streamlining drug trafficking routes for Wedding, hiring corrupt lawyers to help with Ryan’s criminal practices in the USA and Canada, supplying sealed legal documents to the drug lord, and helping him get in touch with his jailed associates.Deepak Balwant Paradkar is also said to have received expensive gifts from Ryan Wedding, including limited edition wrist watches and extra fees for his alleged illegal services.