Treasury escalates crackdown on Russia-linked A7 crypto network with sanctions and FinCEN rule proposal

The U.S. Treasury on Thursday escalated its campaign against a Russia-linked crypto and payments network, sanctioning the A7 Network as a transnational criminal organization while separately proposing new anti-money-laundering restrictions aimed at cutting off its access to both digital-asset and traditional banking channels.

The coordinated move, announced Oct. 1 under “Operation Economic Outcast,” went beyond a routine sanctions listing. Treasury paired an Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, designation with a Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, proposed rule and a new alert to banks, money transmitters and other financial institutions. Together, the actions target what Treasury says was a large cross-border system that used a ruble-backed stablecoin and overseas intermediaries to move money.

OFAC added “A7 NETWORK” to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, or SDN List, effective immediately. That means all property and interests in property of A7 in the United States, or in the possession or control of U.S. persons, are blocked and must be reported to OFAC.

FinCEN’s action is different and not yet final. In a notice of proposed rulemaking issued under section 9714 of the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act, FinCEN said transactions involving any company operating outside the United States that is controlled by the A7 Network — which it calls sub-agents — are “a class of transactions of primary money laundering concern.” If finalized, the rule would prohibit certain transmittals of funds by covered U.S. financial institutions involving those A7-controlled sub-agents. The proposal will be open for public comment for 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.

FinCEN also issued an alert, FIN-2026-Alert007, instructing financial institutions to monitor for A7-related activity and file suspicious activity reports where appropriate.

Treasury and FinCEN say the scale of the network helps explain the unusually broad response. According to FinCEN, more than 180 entities processed A7A5 transactions worth at least $179.1 billion between February 2025 and June 2026. FinCEN also said A7 Network sub-agents processed more than $17 billion in U.S.-dollar-denominated transactions between January 2025 and June 2026.

At the center of the case is A7A5, which Treasury and FinCEN describe as a ruble-backed stablecoin issued by Old Vector LLC, a company registered in the Kyrgyz Republic. FinCEN said the token operated on Tron and Ethereum and was advertised as backed by ruble deposits at Promsvyazbank, or PSB, a Russian state bank previously sanctioned by the United States.

Authorities say A7A5 was used as a “non-freezable” bridging asset and internal accounting tool inside the network. In plain terms, FinCEN described a mirror system in which crypto transactions involving A7A5 inside Russia were matched by fiat transfers carried out by sub-agents in third countries. Those outside intermediaries allegedly used companies, invoices and bank accounts to move value while obscuring the sanctioned origin of the funds.

Treasury and FinCEN identified core A7 entities including A7 LLC, A71 LLC and A7 Agent LLC, which they said are Russia-based firms jointly owned by Ilan Shor and PSB.

The action also marks an escalation from earlier Treasury steps. Treasury had already targeted A7 LLC and Old Vector LLC in August 2025. The new action is broader because it goes after the network as a whole and proposes restrictions on an entire class of transactions involving A7-controlled overseas sub-agents, rather than only naming specific entities.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the move is meant to warn facilitators as well as the network itself: “Today’s action targeting A7 continues Treasury’s unprecedented efforts to isolate Iran and its financial enablers and sends a clear message that if you facilitate illicit finance for America’s adversaries, you will lose access to the U.S. financial system.”