Paxful / Ray Youssef
Last changed 2026-11-04 · Fact-check review — Fact-check review (verdict: revise): the reviewer checked the page's claims against its sources; the trust score did not change. Version history →
Why this score
| Every page starts at | 65 |
| The subject's own conduct | -140 |
| Problems around it, caused by others | -1.8 |
| Long-running | +10 |
| Sum | -67 |
- Serious regulatory wrongdoing with no established harm to customers is held in WARNING (26–50).
Score: 26/100 (kept between 0 and 100)
How scoring works →Page reliability: Fact-checked 2026-11-04 · 11 of 13 claims confirmed · 2 need better sources
anchored·2Dq7Xa…GxWRSummary
Paxful Holdings Inc., once one of the world's largest peer-to-peer Bitcoin trading platforms, pleaded guilty in December 2025 to three federal criminal counts including conspiracy to violate the Travel Act by facilitating illegal prostitution, operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, and violating Bank Secrecy Act AML requirements. Co-founder and former CEO Ray Youssef was separately indicted by the DOJ in February 2026 on related charges and was deported from Mexico to Los Angeles for arraignment. The company shut down operations in November 2025, having admitted to knowingly processing funds linked to fraud, sex trafficking, child sexual abuse material distribution, and transactions with North Korean and Iranian state-sponsored actors.
Connected Entities
4 entities · 60 linked investigations- Paxful→mentioned with→Bitcoin(70%)
- Paxful→mentioned with→Noones(70%)
- Noones→mentioned with→Paxful(70%)
- Noones→mentioned with→Bitcoin(70%)
- Paxful→mentioned with→Paxful / Ray Youssef(85%)
- Paxful / Ray Youssef→mentioned with→Paxful(70%)
- Paxful / Ray Youssef→mentioned with→Bitcoin(70%)
- Noones→mentioned with→Paxful / Ray Youssef(85%)
- Paxful / Ray Youssef→mentioned with→Noones(70%)
Connected Through
4 shared actors · 437 investigationsDistinct actors this investigation shares with others — holders, traders, and named parties. Shared infrastructure (exchanges, pools) is excluded.
- ♦Bitcointoken
- □Paxfulorganization
- □Noonesorganization
- □Paxful / Ray Yousseforganization
Timeline(16 events)
2015
Ray Youssef and Artur Schaback co-found Paxful, a peer-to-peer Bitcoin trading platform based in New York.
City A.M. / The BlockJuly 2017
Primary violation period begins (July 2015 cited by DOJ; 2017 cited as start of primary facilitation period covering $3 billion in trades). Paxful operating without KYC, fake AML policies in place, no SARs filed.
DOJ Office of Public AffairsOctober 2017
FinCEN documents Paxful processing trades on behalf of Lazarus Group member Yinyin Tian (North Korean state-linked actor) beginning approximately October 2017, continuing through November 2018.
FinCEN.gov enforcement action6 April 2018
DOJ seizes Backpage.com for facilitating prostitution and sex trafficking. Paxful had processed approximately $17 million in Bitcoin to Backpage and copycat sites, earning at least $2.7 million in fees from this activity.
DOJ / FinCEN enforcement records2019
Paxful processes transactions associated with a fundraising campaign for al-Qaeda, per FinCEN enforcement findings.
FinCEN.gov enforcement actionJune 2019
Primary criminal violation period ends (per DOJ criminal information covering July 2015 to June 2019 or January 2017 to September 2019 depending on count).
DOJ Office of Public AffairsNovember 2019
Paxful files its first-ever Suspicious Activity Report (SAR), more than four years after founding and after the primary violation period had ended.
FinCEN.gov enforcement actionApril 2023
Paxful temporarily shuts down amid a public dispute between co-founders and internal leadership challenges.
Paxful BlogMay 2023
Paxful resumes operations under new management after assembling a board of directors.
Paxful Blog8 July 2024
Artur Schaback, Paxful co-founder and former CTO, pleads guilty to conspiracy to fail to maintain an effective AML program in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act. Faces maximum five-year prison sentence. Resigns from Paxful board.
The Block / DOJ9 October 2025
Paxful announces complete wind-down of operations effective November 1, 2025, citing 'lasting impact of historic misconduct by former co-founders' and unsustainable compliance remediation costs.
FinTech Magazine Africa / Paxful Blog9 December 2025
Paxful Holdings Inc. pleads guilty to three federal criminal counts. FinCEN simultaneously assesses $3.5 million civil money penalty. Sentencing set for February 10, 2026.
DOJ Office of Public Affairs / FinCEN.gov10 February 2026
Paxful sentenced to $4 million criminal fine. DOJ confirms full penalty of $112.5 million was warranted but reduced due to demonstrated inability to pay. Total combined DOJ and FinCEN penalty is $7.5 million.
DOJ Office of Public Affairs13 February 2026
DOJ indicts Ray Youssef on federal charges of conspiracy to evade AML requirements, operating an unlicensed money transmitter, and facilitating illegal prostitution-related activities. Youssef is deported from Mexico to Los Angeles and arraigned; released under supervision with travel restrictions.
Yahoo Finance / BeInCrypto20 February 2026
NoOnes announces that Ray Youssef has stepped down as CEO. No successor named. NoOnes states his legal matters are personal and unrelated to the company.
Innovation Village / TechPoint AfricaDecision Log
- slot 465093187 · hash 8u1tiaMNMWxnS32ricUYEE2kH5ZKKhfJNX8Gh6HrYmSt
- slot 465093180 · hash A7VtaFP2JWHphGTbcyuF3LSo2ayXGhqtVcXg91psemve
- slot 455358598 · hash 2LpwAURkBq3Pao1TF4NrAWk9jMeTHpBzeMhD9AnB2D9C
- slot 430187082 · hash 8BFQZeE4p4hJ9EZUvUxNURoJ8ZJts7p8gBpdquGiSgYR
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (4 decisions). 18 of 19 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 7/1/2026, 11:04:53 PM
last updated: 11/4/2026, 12:03:03 AM
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