Russia-backed fintech A7 evades financial sanctions worth $6.9 billion through front company

The British daily Financial Times (FT) reported on the 22nd (local time) that circumstances have revealed that large-scale money laundering and remittances to evade international financial sanctions were made through the payment network of 'A7', a fintech company supported by the Kremlin, the office of the Russian President.

According to data obtained by the FT, accounts opened at global financial companies such as Standard Chartered, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank were used as transit points for such transactions.

These materials reveal how A7 evaded sanctions by using front companies and existing companies with access to SWIFT, an international remittance system, as intermediaries and forging documents such as invoices on a large scale.

In particular, the FT reported that this method included thousands of samples that created fake invoices by forging the company's seal or secretly stealing the original.

Russian banks' access to SWIFT has been blocked by global financial sanctions since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

A7 advocates financial innovation through cryptocurrency and was first established in Russia and Kyrgyzstan at the end of 2024. Its founder, Moldovan tycoon Ilan Shor, is conducting this business with the support of Promsvyagbank (PSB), a Russian state-owned bank with close ties to the defense industry.

"Our system is not affected by sanctions, so we provide freedom to companies and countries," Shor told Russia's state-run TASS news agency in July this year.

Data obtained by the FT reveals circumstances in which A7 transferred at least $6.9 billion (KRW 9.55 trillion) through the international banking system using traditional money laundering methods, despite financial sanctions.

Since the establishment of A7 until August 2025, the amount transferred into Hong Kong's Standard Chartered account reached $1.1 billion (KRW 1.52 trillion).

During the same period, $273 million (KRW 378 billion) was remitted to Hong Kong DBS and $74 million (KRW 102 billion) to Citigroup customers.

$18 million (25 billion won) was transferred to Deutsche Bank customers in Europe.

A7 opened accounts in the names of 17 institutions at First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the largest bank in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and overseas remittances worth more than $1.8 billion (KRW 2.49 trillion) were made through these accounts.

A7 also opened accounts at JP Morgan Chase and DBS.

Some of these payments were linked to sensitive war-related items, such as military equipment or purchases by Russian security services.

The FT said it had confirmed evidence of payments made by 100 A7 front companies during the period covered by the leaked data.

The document mentions at least 100 more entities that appear to be shell companies, including at least 61 in the UAE, 87 in Hong Kong, 16 in Kyrgyzstan and 14 in Indonesia.

Most of the major front companies were paper companies controlled by A7.

However, the institution with the largest single payment was the Kyrgyz Republic Trading Company, a currently closed Kyrgyz state-owned institution.

In the A7 system, front companies deposit cash in banks within the SWIFT system and use it to make overseas payments to Russian companies.

FAB explained that all A7-related accounts identified by the FT have already been confirmed and closed, and that it is trying to apply sanctions from the US, UK, EU and UN.

DBS said it had no direct relationship with A7 itself and that it had "taken appropriate action consistent with its control procedures".

Standard Chartered, Citigroup, JP Morgan, and Deutsche Bank all stated that they would faithfully fulfill their anti-money laundering reporting obligations, but did not provide a detailed response.