Listings site Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer pleaded guilty to conspiracy and three counts of money-laundering, in part via cryptocurrencies, in a plea agreement unsealed in federal court in Arizona on April 12.
Ferrer admitted he was aware that the “great majority” of the site’s ads were for prostitution services, and had conspired to conceal their true nature. He further admitted to laundering the site’s allegedly $500 mln revenue through “seemingly unconnected” bank accounts and “crypto-currency [sic] processing companies, including CoinBase, GoCoin, Paxful, Kraken, and Crypto Capital,” among others.