FT: Russian firm A7 laundered $6.9 billion through global banks using forged invoices

A Financial Times investigation revealed that the Russian cross-border payment firm A7 bypassed international sanctions by using shell companies, forged invoices, and a database of thousands of company stamps. Between late 2024 and August 2025, over $6.9 billion flowed through major international banks, including Standard Chartered, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, and First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), with more than half ultimately reaching Chinese bank accounts. The firm, founded by exiled Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor and supported by the Russian state-owned Promsvyazbank (PSB), also operated a crypto business, including the issuance of the ruble-pegged stablecoin A7A5 on the Tron and Ethereum networks, which currently has a circulating supply of approximately 39.2 billion tokens. The U.S., U.K., and EU have imposed sanctions on A7 and its affiliates.