Person
Moldovan businessman under Western sanctions, active in Russian-aligned financial and political ventures.
Three senior Russian officials, including the finance minister, joined A7's board two weeks after OFAC's criminal designation, Cryptopolitan reports. The seats confirm a state link A7 already had, so open exposure sits with the intermediaries around it.
Reality
Russia's A7 will settle foreign invoices in USDT for a flat 0.3% fee, with recipients paid by SWIFT, 11 days after US sanctions on its network. It is aimed at businesses in international trade, the segment where US authorities say the network moved restricted payments.
Reality
OFAC designated A7, a Russia-linked payments network that reportedly settled over $86 billion in its first year, a transnational criminal organization. FinCEN's same-day proposal to bar transfers through A7's sub-agents gives banks and crypto firms a new screening job aimed at intermediaries.
Perspective Coverage
6 publishersReality
Leaked internal files from the Promsvyazbank-backed payments group describe roughly 100 front companies in four jurisdictions opening accounts at banks still on the network, with counterfeit invoices produced whenever compliance teams asked questions.
Reality
Leaked files put $6.9 billion of the Kremlin-linked A7 network's money through correspondent banks, while TRM counts $166 billion of A7-linked crypto volume. After the sanctions, the daily turnover of its ruble token fell 96%.
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