Alleged narco-millionaire and Nuns Island resident denied bail in extradition case

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A Nuns’ Island resident wanted in the U.S. where he is alleged to have made millions in cryptocurrency while selling counterfeit drugs over the Dark Web was denied bail at the Montreal courthouse Thursday as he continues to challenge an extradition request.

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Alexandre Beaudry’s sister sobbed after Superior Court Justice Élaine Perreault denied his request to be released and asked for permission to hug him before he was returned to a detention centre.

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“Is it possible for us to hold him in our arms,” the sister asked while expressing concerns she and her parents will “never see him alive again.”

Beaudry was the victim of a very violent home invasion inside a luxury condo on Nuns’ Island in May, a month before he was arrested.

Perreault apologized to Beaudry’s sibling and other members of his family while pointing out that the plexiglass surrounding the entirety of the prisoner’s dock the 31-year-old sat in for the hearing did not allow for human contact.

The judge also said, because of a lack of staff at the courthouse, it was impossible to make special arrangements for the hug. Due to the staff shortage, the judge had to wait almost an hour for a special constable to be assigned to her courtroom before the hearing could begin.

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Beaudry’s parents testified in support of his release but the judge noted that, as far as they knew, their son’s principal activities consisted of playing video games and working out at a gym.

Beaudry’s lawyer said her client has had it rough while detained at the Rivière-des-Prairies Detention Centre and spent several days over the past two weeks almost entirely confined to his cell because of an outbreak of COVID-19.

“(Detainees) haven’t been allowed to go outside. Absolutely nothing,” the lawyer said.

Beaudry has been detained since he was arrested on June 30, 2022, based on a request from the U.S. government to have him extradited on charges filed in a U.S. District Court in Connecticut.

The extradition request alleges Beaudry used aliases to collect money as payment for the contraband synthetic drugs he is alleged to have sold in the U.S.

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“In private communications with (a co-operating witness) in 2017, Beaudry discussed earning millions of dollars in drug profits and maintenance of offshore accounts along with a cold storage Bitcoin wallet,” one document in the extradition request alleges. “Specifically, Beaudry told (the co-operating witness), in June 2017, he possessed around 200,000 Bitcoins plus $4 million buried in Canadian currency, $2 million in an offshore bank account, totalling like $12 million to $13 million.”

His Bitcoins were at one point estimated to be worth $54 million. American investigators believe they have uncovered several Bitcoin wallets that can be tied to Beaudry. One account is believed to be linked an account in a Portuguese bank used by Beaudry’s brother. The account was used between 2019 and 2020 to transfer $80,000 a month in Euros to Beaudry’s account at a bank in Montreal.

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The U.S. government asked that Beaudry remain detained because they fear he will “continue to attempt to cover his tracks” if he were to be released. They base this claim on how, when police carried out a search warrant at an address on the same day Beaudry was arrested, a computer screen changed to display an error screen “leading authorities to believe the device might have been remotely disabled” and the contents of the computer destroyed.

Beaudry is also alleged to have sold drugs in the U.S. while he was charged at a courthouse in Longueuil with producing and trafficking in steroids. In 2015, he received an 18-month sentence he was allowed to serve from his home. That case was investigated by the RCMP.

“During Beaudry’s reign as the head of a drug distribution operation, the United States experienced an epidemic of addiction and overdoses from opioids. Beaudry trafficked in extremely dangerous synthetic opioids such as fentanyl,” the U.S. alleges in the extradition request. The sentence he served in Canada “did not deter Beaudry from continuing to ship large amounts of dangerous drugs to the United Sates and elsewhere and from laundering millions of dollars in drug proceeds.”

According to other evidence presented during the bail hearing, despite not having a stable job, Beaudry managed to buy a condominium last year for $1.7 million without needing a mortgage. He also bought a Tesla worth $147,000.

The case involving the extradition request returns to court later this month.

pcherry@postmedia.com