The Montreal native, who risks extradition to the United States, where he is believed to be a mega-dealer of Xanax on the dark web, will seek release pending further trial.
• Also read: The United States wants to bring to justice a Montrealer believed to be the king of the Xanax trade
“We will do it [à la Couronne fédérale] a portrait of Alexandre Beaudry for his release, otherwise an application will be ready within two weeks,” Me Debora de Thomasis said at the Montreal courthouse this Friday.
As Le Journal reported yesterday, Beaudry, 30, was arrested at his home last week following a wide-ranging investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration. [DEA]. He now faces extradition to Connecticut, which charges him with being a mega-dealer of counterfeit Xanax in the United States.
From March 2015 to July 2017, the Montreal native would have pocketed 6,100 bitcoins under the aliases AlpraKing, Quantik, and BenzoChems alone. At current prices, that equates to a colossal sum of more than $161 million.
Other computer analysis suggests that he would have amassed as much as 18,000 bitcoins through 22,000 total transactions.
In a post on the Reddit page, attributed by American authorities to Alexandre Beaudry, the latter even boasted of being “responsible for the Xanax epidemic in America.”
Screenshot from Reddit
On the Reddit platform, Alexandre Beaudry would have boasted about being a prolific human trafficker by posting these photos.
But if American authorities have their eye on Beaudry, they’re missing a piece of the puzzle to put him on the collar. However, it was found last May after Beaudry was the victim of a home invasion at his luxurious apartment in L’Île-des-Sœurs.
Back then, two men broke into his home to get the password to a cryptocurrency wallet containing tens of millions of dollars. However, when examining the scene of the crime, the police found a tag that made it possible to identify him.
“The tag featured a symbol used by the alias AlpraKing in photos used to depict drugs sold on the dark web,” the US authorities’ extradition request for Alexandre Beaudry said.
Photo from the extradition request
Beaudry was arrested last week and is currently being held at Rivière-des-Prairies Asylum. And he’s been struggling to get his medication ever since.
“He told me he wasn’t getting them all,” explained Me Claude Boucher. We manage to talk to him, but we can’t meet him.
The experienced criminal lawyer added that Beaudry also had difficulties in obtaining evidence against him.
Faced with this situation, Judge Éliane Perreault wanted to ensure that Beaudry could meet with her two lawyers to prepare the rest of the trial, which will include a motion for her release. US prosecutors fear the defendant will flee because of his wealth amassed in bitcoins.
Beaudry will return to court in two weeks.