U.S. Treasury Designates A7 Network as "Significant Transnational Criminal Organization"

ME News reported that on Oct. 1 (UTC+8), the U.S. Department of the Treasury said on Oct. 2 that it has added A7 Network to its sanctions effort, designating it a "Significant Transnational Criminal Organization." The Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is expected to move to bar certain fund transfers involving A7 Network's subagents and to require financial institutions to identify and report suspicious transactions tied to the network. Treasury described A7 Network as a Russia-linked "shadow banking" system that Iran has used to bypass sanctions, masking sanctioned or illicit flows as legitimate trade through third-party companies, falsified trade paperwork, fabricated import-export records and misleading product descriptions. According to U.S. authorities, investigations show A7 Network's subagents processed more than $17 billion in transactions from January 2025 through June 2026. A7 Network has claimed that as of January 2026 it was handling more than 2,000 transactions a day, with cumulative volume above 7.5 trillion rubles, about $91.5 billion. Treasury said the network has been used by entities including Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to support financial flows tied to Iranian oil sales, weapons procurement and other activities, and that one subagent reportedly dealt with entities linked to Iran's "shadow fleet." A7 Network is also accused of connections to Iranian digital-asset exchange Nobitex and of helping move funds associated with North Korean cyberattacks targeting cryptocurrency platforms. The announcement also cited the A7A5 Token, a ruble-backed token issued by Old Vector LLC. Treasury alleges A7 Network used the token to evade sanctions and to help sanctioned infrastructure providers profit via token circulation. (Source: ODAILY)