Man accused in Ryan Wedding drug trafficking case seeking bail during extradition
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
We need your support!
Local journalism needs your support!
As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed.
Now, more than ever, we need your support.
Starting at $15.99 plus taxes every four weeks you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website.
Subscribe Nowor call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527.
Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community!
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Brandon Sun access to your Free Press subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $20.00 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.00 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
CALGARY – The lawyer for a Calgary man arrested in connection with alleged Canadian drug kingpin Ryan Wedding says his client is not a flight risk or a public danger and should get bail.
Allistair Chapman, 33, faces extradition to California on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to retaliate against a witness and other offences.
His lawyer, Noel O’Brien, asked court Wednesday for Chapman to be released on a $500,000 surety guaranteed by his parents, saying he would stay with his parents and abide by a curfew.
Chapman, he said, has nowhere else to go.
“He has no criminal record. He has enormous ties to the community. He was raised in the city. He does not have access to enormous amounts of cash,” O’Brien said.
“He does not have the facility to disappear anywhere and, particularly in this day and age, where is this young man going to go?”
Such hearings are normally under a publication ban, but in this case neither the Crown nor the defence asked for one.
Chapman and nine others were arrested last year in an FBI investigation into an international drug trafficking organization allegedly run by Wedding, a former Team Canada Olympic snowboarder-turned-fugitive.
Wedding is in custody in the United States.
U.S. prosecutors allege Chapman helped arrange the killing of a government informant by providing the man’s photo to a co-accused and paying for it to be posted online so the witness could be located before testifying.
The informant was later shot dead at a restaurant in Colombia.
O’Brien said the American allegation doesn’t link Chapman to a murder plot.
He said his client is accused of posting a quote that the victim “was in fact a snitch or a rat.”
“There’s no indication that Mr. Chapman was told ‘We’re going to kill this guy.'”
O’Brien said a number of other accused in the case have already been released on bail. He noted Chapman has not been outside of Canada for 10 years and has no ties to any foreign country.
The judge is expected to reserve his decision.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2026.