虚拟货币平台Paxful被判付400万美元刑事罚款：明知客户行骗仍为其转移资金
2026年2月11日，美国司法部宣布，在线点对点虚拟货币交易平台 Paxful Holdings Inc. 已于前一天被判处400万美元刑事罚款，罚款数额按其支付能力确定。该公司此前已就共谋助长非法卖淫、违反《银行保密法》、明知故犯转移犯罪所得资金等罪名认罪，此案在位于加州萨克拉门托县萨克拉门托市的加州东区联邦法院审理。
司法部刑事司助理部长 A. Tysen Duva 说，Paxful 以自身缺乏反洗钱管控、不遵守反洗钱法律为卖点招揽客户，从为犯罪分子转移资金中牟利，而它明知这些人从事欺诈、勒索、卖淫与商业性交易。加州东区联邦检察官 Eric Grant 说，该公司把利润置于合规之上，为洗钱与其他犯罪提供了便利。
据法庭文件，2017年1月1日至2019年9月2日，Paxful 促成超过2670万笔交易，总额近30亿美元，收入超过2970万美元。Paxful 明知客户转移的是欺诈、非法卖淫等犯罪所得，其中包括为卖淫广告平台 Backpage 及其同类网站转移虚拟货币：2015年12月至2022年12月，近1700万美元比特币从 Paxful 钱包转入 Backpage 及同类网站，Paxful 从中获利至少270万美元，其创始人曾把这种引流效应吹嘘为「Backpage 效应」。
认罪协议显示，2015年7月至2019年6月，Paxful 对外宣称无需客户身份信息即可开户交易，向第三方出示从未真正执行过的虚假反洗钱政策，并在明知用户从事可疑与犯罪活动的情况下不提交可疑活动报告。司法部说，该平台被用于转移欺诈赃款与非法卖淫所得、恶意国家行为者的黑客所得，还被用于传播儿童性虐待材料。
法庭文件显示，双方同意按案情与法律本应判处的刑事罚款为1.125亿美元，司法部经独立分析后认定，Paxful 无力支付超过400万美元。Paxful 共同创始人、前首席技术官 Artur Schaback 已于2024年7月8日就共谋未能维持有效反洗钱计划认罪。据金融犯罪执法局，这项认罪是与该局协调一致的整体解决方案的一部分，该局另对 Paxful 处以350万美元民事罚款。此案由国土安全调查局与国税局刑事调查部门调查。
Paxful Sentenced to $4 Million Criminal Penalty for Knowingly Moving Money for Criminals
On February 11, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Paxful Holdings Inc., an online peer-to-peer virtual currency trading platform, had been sentenced the day before to pay a $4 million criminal penalty, based on its ability to pay. Paxful had pleaded guilty to conspiracies to promote illegal prostitution, violate the Bank Secrecy Act, and knowingly transmit funds derived from criminal offenses, in a case heard in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento, in Sacramento County, California.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department's Criminal Division said Paxful profited from moving money for criminals that it attracted by touting its lack of anti-money laundering controls and failure to comply with applicable money-laundering laws, all while knowing that these criminals were engaged in fraud, extortion, prostitution and commercial sex trafficking. U.S. Attorney Eric Grant for the Eastern District of California said the company put profit over compliance and enabled money laundering and other crimes.
According to court documents, from January 1, 2017, to September 2, 2019, Paxful facilitated more than 26.7 million trades, totaling nearly $3 billion in value, and collected more than $29.7 million in revenue. Paxful knew that its customers transmitted funds from criminal offenses, including fraud schemes and illegal prostitution, including transfers for Backpage, an online advertising platform for illicit prostitution, and similar sites: between December 2015 and December 2022, nearly $17 million worth of bitcoin was transferred from Paxful wallets to Backpage and a copycat site, from which Paxful obtained at least $2.7 million in profits, and its founders boasted about the resulting 'Backpage Effect' on the business.
As described in the plea agreement, from July 2015 to June 2019, Paxful marketed itself as a platform that did not require know-your-customer information, presented fake anti-money laundering policies to third parties that it knew were not implemented or enforced, and failed to file suspicious activity reports despite knowing that its users were engaged in suspicious and criminal activity. The Justice Department said the platform was used to transfer the proceeds of fraud schemes and illegal prostitution, hacks by malign state actors, and the distribution of child sexual abuse material.
According to court documents, Paxful agreed that the appropriate criminal penalty based on the law and the facts was $112,500,000, but the Justice Department's independent analysis determined that Paxful did not have the ability to pay more than $4 million. Paxful co-founder and former chief technology officer Artur Schaback pleaded guilty on July 8, 2024, to conspiracy to fail to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program. According to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the guilty plea was part of a coordinated resolution with FinCEN, which separately assessed a $3.5 million civil money penalty. Homeland Security Investigations and IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.
来源：美国司法部
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：位于美国华盛顿的美国财政部大楼（资料照片）。Sealy j 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons；联邦固定图库标准图。 / Photo: The U.S. Department of the Treasury building in Washington, D.C. (file photo). Photo by Sealy j, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; federal fixed-library image.
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