At 11.9 million US dollars, agreed uponit will be for Mercedes steep.
But the buyer — an alleged money launderer for a transnational criminal network — was used to dealing eye-watering sums.
CBC News has revealed new details about last year’s purchase of a rare Mercedes-Benz supercar, which was recently seized by the FBI as part of its investigation into Canadian fugitive Ryan Wedding.
The spectacular seizure, believed to be the most valuable vehicle ever seized by US federal authorities, made headlines around the world.
After all, the 2002 CLK-GTR Roadster without the roof is considered a unicorn by car enthusiasts, and Drake apparently coveted it. Believed to be one of only six of its kind ever made, the FBI said the silver stun gun is worth $13 million — $1.1 million more than the purchase price last year — as she highlighted the seizure last week on social media fast.
According to a bill of sale obtained by CBC News, the vehicle was purchased last year by Roland Sokolovsky, a Toronto jeweler who was recently identified by U.S. authorities as one of Wedding’s two “main money launderers.”
It is not clear whether Wedding – a former Olympic snowboarder accused of running a murderous cocaine-smuggling empire – ordered the purchase. But the vehicle appears to fit into what the US Treasury Department recently described as a “complex network” of global assets used to launder vast sums of Vendinga’s drug money.
The purchase agreement dated August 8, 2024 contains the signature of Sokolovski and his company Diamond Car as the buyer. Treasury Department officials allege that Sokolowski acted as the bookkeeper for Wedding’s $1 billion American criminal enterprise, using the Diamond Car as a front to launder his funds.
In that role, 37-year-old Sokolowski allegedly held hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency for Wedding, one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives, and procured jewelry and vehicles for him.
Wedding, 44, is bhe is believed to be hiding in Mexico, and the US is offering a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to his capture.
A racing car built for the street
As for that Mercedes, it’s like new — it’s only covered 14 miles.
The bill of sale listed two exotic car dealerships, based in Missouri and Florida, that were involved in the deal. With a $2 million deposit from Sokolowski, the Mercedes was to be delivered to Curated Vintage Supercars in Miami and held there until the balance of the $11.9 million purchase price was “paid in full.”
Later that month on its Facebook page, Curated announced the CLK-GTR as part of “probably the most epic arrival in history” for the dealership.
With a powerful 6.0-liter, V12 engine of 612 horsepower and a top speed of 335 km/h, this is not just a sports car. It’s a race car.
In the 1990s, Mercedes had to make the equivalent of their entry into the FIA GT Championship series. The CLK-GTR was designed as a street-legal “homologation special”.
In a video posted online, Herschel Zelzer, a representative of the Miami dealership, said the roadster — number five of six ever built — belonged to the royal family of Abu Dhabi. He claimed the company sourced a car for Drake, but the deal with the Canadian hip-hop star ultimately fell through.
“There may have been some miscommunications, but Drake didn’t show up to the party,” Zelzer said.
He told CBC News that Curated turned the car over to the FBI last month.
“Roland was a very disarming individual,” Zelzer said in a telephone interview. “We would never suspect that he had anything to do with things like this.”
Large assets seized by US federal law enforcement are often sold at auction, but it is unclear what will happen to the Mercedes. An FBI spokesperson told CBC News that the affidavit detailing the seizure remains under seal.
Ryan Wedding once represented Canada as an Olympic snowboarder; now he’s accused of being a drug kingpin and is on the FBI’s most wanted list – with a $10 million reward offered for information leading to his arrest. CBC’s Thomas Daigle follows his shocking journey from the top of the slopes to the underworld.
A ‘sophisticated’ global money laundering scheme
Lithuanian-born Sokolovski was arrested last month and faces extradition to the US on charges related to cocaine distribution and money laundering conspiracy. He was named in a broad grand jury indictment recently unsealed by the U.S. Department of Justice, which also led to the arrest of a prominent Toronto lawyer and a crime blogger accused of helping Wedding set up the murder of an FBI witness.
The indictment, combined with recent statements from US Treasury officials, provides the clearest picture yet of what investigators believe is a transatlantic money laundering operation surrounding Wedding’s alleged drug ring.
“Wedding operates through a complex web of individuals and companies to launder his drug proceeds, using everything from shell businesses to luxury cars to cryptocurrencies,” Undersecretary of the Treasury John Hurley told reporters recently.
According to the Ministry of Finance, Sokolovski acted together with former member of the Italian special forces Gianluca Tiepolo as the main money launderers of the network. Tiepolo allegedly kept Wedding’s assets worth millions of dollars in his own name, while operating luxury cars and motorcycles from Italy and England.
Sokolowski paid millions of dollars a month for vehicles to Tiepolo on Wedding’s behalf, according to documents filed in Ontario court.
What’s more, Tiepolo founded Windrose Tactical Solutions, which provided “military-style tactical training” for Wedding’s killers, the US Treasury Department said in a statement last month.
The department also said the Thunder Bay, Ont.-born fugitive’s Mexican wife, Miriam Andrea Castillo Moreno, “laundered drug proceeds for the wedding and helped him commit acts of violence,” without elaborating further.
The Wedding Network has been linked to dozens of murders, including the death of a Indian couple in Caledon, Ont., who were mistakenly targeted for a stolen shipment of cocaine.
Rashid Pascua Hossain, another Canadian identified in the indictment as a key money launderer for the “Wedding Criminal Enterprise,” was arrested in Vancouver last month. Also known as “JP Morgan,” Hossein reportedly sent $207,808,779 to Wedding in Tether cryptocurrency over a six-month period in 2024.
In all, the US last month imposed Treasury sanctions on 10 individuals and nine entities linked to Wedding, including Sokolovsky and Diamond Car.
“I am deeply concerned about the bank transfer you made me earlier,” Wedding’s alleged lieutenant, Andrew Clark, allegedly wrote to Sokolowski on Oct. 4, 2024. “O (sic) that guy I tried to kill,” Clark added, “and the police intervened.”
As the FBI continues its hunt for Ryan Vending, the former Olympian turned alleged cocaine kingpin, CBC News has learned how he may have used a $13 million American Mercedes as part of a global money laundering scheme.
“If they wanted to ask me something, I think they would (sic) from naww,” Sokolowski later said, according to a partial transcript of the conversation included in court records.
Sokolowski, who was living in a downtown Toronto apartment at the time of his arrest, remains in custody. A bail hearing is scheduled for next week.
His attorney, Scott K. Fenton declined to comment.
CBC News Senior Reporter Thomas Daigle has covered the search for Ryan Vending extensively. He can be reached by email at thomas.daigle@cbc.ca.
