Toronto man pleads guilty to cocaine smuggling plot

A Toronto man has agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to smuggle cocaine for a drug network allegedly tied to former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, according to a plea deal filed Monday in California's central district federal court.

Rakhim Ibragimov, described as an Uzbekistan-born associate known to collaborators as the "Russian" or "George," was caught by U.S. authorities in April 2024 after traveling from Canada to California to oversee a drug shipment. He attempted to pick up approximately 375 kilograms of cocaine that was destined for Canada, according to an agreed statement of facts included in his plea deal.

Ibragimov was detained, then allowed to return to Ontario before being arrested again in October 2024 by Toronto police. His arrest came around the same time U.S. authorities moved against more than a dozen of Wedding's alleged co-conspirators in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, and Colombia on charges ranging from drug trafficking to murder.

Court documents detail that Ibragimov's involvement is tied to an agreement between a drug trafficking organization and a "drug transportation network" that operated through California, with intent to distribute no less than 1,800 kilograms of cocaine in the U.S. and export to Canada. The agreement ran from an unknown date until around August 2024.

Ibragimov's plea deal acknowledged that by waiving his right to an extradition hearing, he "saved" both U.S. and Canadian governments "significant resources." He is expected to formally plead guilty on July 8. No sentencing date has been set.