By PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent
THE U.S. Treasury has announced “unprecedented action” against the A7 Network, a shadow banking network with ties to Russia, used by Iran to evade sanctions.
FinCEN, the Treasury’s financial crimes unit, unveiled a rule that will prohibit transmittals of funds regarding transactions involving the A7 Network’s sub-agents.
“By its own account, as of January 2026, the A7 Network claimed to process more than 2,000 transactions a day with a total transaction volume of more than 7.5 trillion rubles, the U.S. dollar equivalent of $91.5 billion or approximately 13 percent of the Russian Federation’s 2025 foreign trade transactions,” the Treasury said.
Additionally, the Treasury said that A7’s activities “created pathways” for other illicit actors to move funds through the international financial system. These include
- The Central Bank of Iran
- The IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps)
- Iran-backed terrorist organizations
“Beyond state actors, A7 Network Sub-Agents also catered to cybercriminals, including ransomware and procurement actors seeking to obtain restricted goods, to move funds through the international financial system,” the Treasury said.
“FinCEN’s investigation identified that the A7 Network’s Sub-Agents processed more than $17 billion between January 2025 and June 2026, aggregated globally.”
The announcement comes just a week after revelations that A7 has laundered billions of dollars through banks in Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi and Europe.
FinCEN also issued an alert to help banks and financial institutions detect and report suspicious activity related to the A7 Network.
It was also announced that OFAC has deemed A7 a “significant transnational criminal organization”.
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