The online advertising site Backpage.com and its chief executive have pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges in Arizona.
The guilty pleas by the company and CEO Carl Ferrer were made on April 5, but were unsealed late Thursday afternoon.
The acknowledgments of wrongdoing came shortly after Ferrer pleaded guilty on Thursday to a state money laundering charges in California and the company pleaded guilty to human trafficking in Texas.
Ferrer says in his federal plea deal that he was aware that a great majority of the site's ads were for sex services.
He also says he conspired with others at Backpage.com to launder the proceeds from such ads after credit card companies and banks refused to do business with the site.
