The federal Crown warns the Thornhill man was allegedly at the centre of Wedding's drug enterprise and can access hidden funds to flee

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Looking dapper in a blue-grey blazer and dark sweater, the lawyer for international drug kingpin Ryan Wedding, Deepak “cocaine lawyer” Paradkar, sat in the prisoner’s box in a downtown Toronto courthouse hoping for bail on Thursday.

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Usually arguing before the bench, the flashy lawyer who once told me he modelled himself after larger-than-life American attorneys like F. Lee Bailey and Johnny Cochran is now the one charged with shocking crimes in the U.S. that carry a mandatory life sentence on conviction, including allegations he counselled Wedding to murder a government witness in Colombia.

The now-bearded Paradkar, 62, was arrested Nov. 18 and is being held at Toronto East Detention Centre under an extradition warrant. His release plan includes $5 million pledged by himself and his wife Mandy Taylor Paradkar and $250,000 by her cousin, strict house arrest with GPS monitoring, surrender of his passport and no access to electronic devices.

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