The Justice Department said Luis Benítez Alcántara was arrested in Colombia, charged with taking a $2 million bribe to free Andrew Clark.

Nine counts of accessory after the fact are charges. They are not a conviction. The department said that if he is convicted he faces up to 15 years on each count, and that Andrew Clark's case and Ryan Wedding's cases remain pending. Kash Patel's quotation on the release spells Bogotá as Bogatá.

The Justice Department said Thursday, November 5, 2026, that a Mexican judge has been arrested on a nine-count federal indictment charging him with accepting a $2 million bribe in exchange for granting bond to and ordering the release of a Canadian drug trafficker. It said that man was the second-in-command to a former Olympic snowboarder charged with leading a transnational cocaine trafficking operation and with murder and attempted murder. It said Luis Benítez Alcántara, 49, of Mexico City, was arrested on Sunday in Colombia. It said he is charged in a second superseding indictment with nine counts of being an accessory after the fact, and that the United States will request his extradition from Colombia. Sunday, on a release dated Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, is Nov. 1. The release does not print the calendar date of the arrest. Attorney General Todd Blanche said, "Crooked public officials, no matter where they are, who assist drug traffickers operating here at home will face justice in the United States," and, "Mr. Benítez will be held accountable." That is his statement. It is not a finding. FBI Director Kash Patel said agents arrested "a Mexican judge who allegedly accepted bribes and used his position to aid" Ryan Wedding and his associates. Allegedly is Patel's word. The same quotation says Benítez Alcántara "allegedly accepted $2 million" for granting bond to Wedding's second in command "while Wedding was orchestrating a billion-dollar transnational criminal organization and the largest supplier of cocaine to Canada." It spells the FBI's attaché office "Bogatá." Later in the same release, the Judicial Attaché Office is placed in Bogotá. Bogatá, and Bogotá, are not the same spelling. Patel said he is charged with nine counts of accessory after the fact for assisting the individual in order to hinder or prevent his apprehension, trial, or punishment. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, for the Central District of California, said the office is committed to holding accountable those who abuse positions of public trust. A statement about accountability is not a conviction.

The release says that according to the superseding indictment returned on Sept. 4, Benítez used his official position to unlawfully secure Andrew Clark's release. It says that in return for the $2 million bribe payment, he issued rulings that facilitated the release of Andrew Clark, 36, a Canadian drug trafficker and second-in-command to Ryan James Wedding, 44. The lede says Wedding is charged with leading the operation. A later sentence says he "led one of the biggest, most notorious, and violent transnational criminal organizations." Charged with leading, and led, are not the same status, and both are on the page. The release says that in October 2024, Clark was arrested in Mexico on U.S. drug trafficking, murder, and attempted murder charges in which Wedding also was named, and that Clark then appeared before Benítez, the Mexico City district judge overseeing the extradition proceedings. It says that in November 2024 the United States formally requested Clark's extradition. It says that from November 2024 through February 2025, Clark transferred approximately $2.75 million, through intermediaries and in small increments, to secure his release, and that during this period he negotiated an agreement to pay Benítez approximately $2 million in exchange for ordering his release. It says that on Feb. 24, 2025, the same day Benítez received the full $2 million bribe payment, he granted Clark bond and ordered him released, and that days later Clark was re-arrested and removed to the United States, where the criminal case against him remains pending. Approximately $2.75 million, and approximately $2 million, are not the same sum. The release presents that sequence as what the indictment describes. It is not a verdict.

The release says Wedding, then one of the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, was apprehended in Mexico in January 2026 and removed to the United States, where he remains in federal custody. It says he faces drug-trafficking, murder, and attempted murder charges and is scheduled for two separate trials, on March 31, 2027, and Oct. 26, 2027. Faces charges, and a trial date, are not a conviction. It says that if convicted, Benítez would face a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison on each count. Nine counts, and 15 years on each, are what the release prints. It does not print a sentence, because there is no sentence. It says the FBI investigated with the Los Angeles Police Department and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, with help from Colombian National Police and the department's Judicial Attaché Office in Bogotá. The release says an indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.