The U.S. Treasury Department has designated the Russian shadow banking network A7 as a significant transnational criminal organization, with addresses in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria and Zimbabwe. FinCEN proposed a groundbreaking rule to prohibit all transfers to or from the network’s shell companies, including cryptocurrency, under the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act. More than 180 entities processed at least $179.1 billion in ruble-backed A7A5 tokens between February 2025 and June 2026. The network’s Sub-Agents laundered an additional $17 billion through approximately 435 financial institutions across at least 83 countries. The network was launched in September 2024 by fugitive Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor and Promsvyazbank, Russia’s state-owned defense bank.
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