The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a Treasury division, proposed prohibiting US financial institutions from any transfers involving A7's "subagents" — front companies abroad through which the network processes payments for Russian clients. According to FinCEN, A7 has hundreds of subagents in the UAE, Hong Kong, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan and other countries, with accounts at roughly 435 banks in 83 countries. On paper they are owned by foreigners, while A7 staff in Moscow manage the accounts via VPN.
Between January 2025 and June 2026, the subagents processed more than $17 billion in dollar payments, according to FinCEN. The agency named six companies, all registered in Dubai. It will not publish the full list: FinCEN will circulate it to banks through a closed channel and keep adding to it so the network does not have time to replace the firms that have been exposed.
The decision was taken as part of the US Treasury's campaign against Iran. Payments were reportedly routed through the network for the Central Bank of Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Tehran-backed groups including Hamas, as well as cybercriminals.
A7 was launched in 2024 by fugitive Moldovan businessman Ilan Shor and Promsvyazbank, the core bank of the Russian defense industry. A year later Shor personally presented the platform to Vladimir Putin. By Promsvyazbank's own estimate, almost 12% of Russian business's foreign trade passed through A7 in the first half of 2025. The network itself claimed that as of January 2026 it was processing more than 2,000 transactions a day worth a total of over 7.5 trillion rubles ($91.5 billion).
A7's Russian core and its ruble stablecoin A7A5 have been under US sanctions since August 2025. In July the European Union imposed sanctions on A7A5 project head Leonid Shumakov, the companies A7 Agent and A71, and Promsvyazbank deputy chairman Mikhail Dorofeyev. In April The Insider found that the network was building infrastructure in Africa and identified Dorofeyev at the opening of its office in Nigeria.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the measures against A7 continue the department's efforts to isolate Iran and its financial facilitators, and make clear that those who help America's adversaries with illicit financing will lose access to the US financial system. The Treasury expects similar steps from other countries and banks.
The New York Times and the Financial Times have previously reported on A7's operations. According to the NYT, the company used more than 70 front firms to move funds on behalf of sanctioned Russian companies and employed an artificial intelligence application to generate fictitious records of trade transactions.
The FinCEN rule remains a draft: comments will be accepted for 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.