The U.S. Department of the Treasury on October 1 designated the Russia-linked A7 Network a significant transnational criminal organization, freezing its property under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibiting most transactions by American persons. The move forms part of Operation Economic Outcast, a campaign directed against Iranian financial channels and their facilitators.

Officials described A7 as a shadow banking structure created to move funds around Western restrictions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. The network has also been used by Iranian entities, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and certain proxy groups, to conduct international payments.

Ownership and Structure of the Network

A7 is majority-owned by Ilan Shor, a Moldovan businessman who holds a Russian passport and faces international sanctions, and is co-owned by Russia’s state-controlled Promsvyazbank, itself under Western sanctions. The group launched in September 2024 and quickly claimed to handle more than 2,000 transactions a day.

By early 2026 the platform reported total volume of 7.5 trillion rubles, equivalent to roughly $91.5 billion, a figure the Treasury said represents about 13 percent of Russia’s foreign-trade transactions in the prior year. Operations span Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, according to the designation.

At the core of the system sit hundreds of third-country companies that U.S. authorities call Sub-Agents. These firms maintain accounts at approximately 435 financial institutions across at least 83 countries. Network personnel in Moscow control the websites and bank accounts of the Sub-Agents, routing activity through custom virtual private networks so that transactions appear to originate in Dubai, Hong Kong, Bishkek or other locations.

Falsified trade documents, misleading product descriptions and fabricated import-export records are used to present restricted payments as ordinary commercial activity.

Scale of Financial Activity

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network found that A7 Sub-Agents processed more than $17 billion in dollar-denominated transactions between January 2025 and June 2026. One Sub-Agent and a related company received nearly $140 million from entities linked to Iranian sanctions evasion and oil-shipping networks. Another Sub-Agent transferred about $1.6 million to a firm associated with Iranian weapons procurement.

Cryptocurrency forms a parallel channel. Old Vector LLC, a Kyrgyzstan-registered company inside the network, issues the ruble-backed token A7A5, which trades on Tron and Ethereum and is backed by deposits at Promsvyazbank. The Treasury designated A7A5 blocked property in an earlier action. FinCEN identified more than 180 entities that processed at least $179.1 billion in A7A5 transfers between February 2025 and June 2026, much of it historically through the already-sanctioned exchanges Garantex and Grinex.

The token is frequently used as a bridge into other stablecoins and then into fiat currency, allowing the two sides of a transaction to remain separated.

Links to Iran and Other Sanctioned Actors

Treasury tied the network to Nobitex, Iran’s largest digital-asset exchange, which was designated in June 2026. Officials also stated that A7 facilitated transactions related to proceeds from North Korean hacks of cryptocurrency platforms. The department said the infrastructure supports Iranian oil sales, procurement networks and other restricted parties.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control designation immediately blocks any property or interests in property of the A7 Network that are located in the United States or controlled by U.S. persons. Companies owned 50 percent or more by designated parties may fall under the same restrictions. U.S. persons are generally barred from dealing in blocked property unless an exemption or license applies.

Proposed Transfer Ban and Industry Guidance

Alongside the sanctions, FinCEN proposed a special measure under the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act that would prohibit covered U.S. financial institutions from transmitting funds—both conventional and convertible virtual currency—involving identified A7 Sub-Agents. The rule would apply to roughly 348,000 institutions, including crypto exchanges.

The proposal enters a 30-day public comment period once published in the Federal Register. FinCEN also issued an alert listing red-flag indicators such as shell companies with unexplained high-volume activity, suspicious trade documentation, multi-jurisdictional payment routes and infrastructure controlled by A7. Institutions filing related suspicious-activity reports are directed to use a specific key term.

Earlier European Union sanctions and a United Kingdom National Crime Agency alert had already targeted parts of the same network. The latest U.S. measures extend those efforts by combining an immediate property freeze with a proposed prohibition intended to sever remaining access to the American financial system.