The Law Society of Ontario has begun proceedings to suspend Deepak Paradkar’s licence
Paradkar is accused of advising his client, Ryan Wedding, to have a key witness killed
It was revealed last week that Thornhill lawyer Deepak Paradkar, who was representing Olympic snowboarder-turned-alleged drug kingpin Ryan Wedding, allegedly told his client that having a key witness killed could help his case.
At a press conference, US Attorney General Pam Bondi said, referring to 62-year-old criminal lawyer Paradkar, “His lawyer advised him to kill this witness. His lawyer told him, ‘If you kill this witness, the case would be dismissed.’”
Related: Ryan Wedding’s GTA lawyer allegedly told him to have a witness murdered
As expected, the Law Society of Ontario has now started proceedings to suspend Paradkar’s law licence. A motion posted to its website said “there are reasonable grounds for believing that there is a significant risk of harm to members of the public, or to the public interest in the administration of justice, if the order is not made and that making the order is likely to reduce the risk.”
The FBI also alleged that Paradkar permitted Wedding to listen in on communications with an alleged drug courier, for the purpose of determining whether the other party was cooperating in an investigation. Paradkar is said to have used aliases in his own communications, which included “cocaine_lawyer.”
Among its grounds for the motion, the Law Society’s notice said Paradkar “is facing very serious criminal charges involving conspiracy to murder a witness, conspiracy to export and distribute cocaine and engaging in a criminal enterprise.”
Related: The story of Ryan Wedding, Canada’s Olympic snowboarder turned drug lord
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
