Court docs link Olympian’s alleged drug trafficking ring to Ontario homicide

TORONTO — New details are emerging that link a suspected transnational drug trafficking ring allegedly run by a wanted Olympian to an April homicide in Ontario.

An affidavit filed by a Toronto police officer assigned to the fugitive squad says evidence collected from the cellphone of a suspected ring member shows how the group orchestrated the man’s death.

The documents kept by a Toronto court allege the ring’s second-in-command Andrew Clark hired Malik Damion Cunningham to murder a list of targets, including one known in court records as R.F.

The documents say the pair chatted over encrypted messaging service Threema before R.F. was shot and killed in front of his Niagara Falls home on April 1.

Last week, Niagara Regional Police said the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation had arrested several individuals in connection with the April 1 murder of 29-year-old Randy Fader.

Clark, Cunningham and former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan James Wedding were named in a California indictment filed against 16 suspects who allegedly moved large shipments of cocaine through North America and orchestrated several murders.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 26, 2024.

The Canadian Press