A large-scale forgery scheme backed by the Kremlin has funneled more than $6.9 billion through global banks, circumventing sanctions imposed on Russia. This operation was carried out by A7, a group established as an alternative to the Western payments system, primarily utilizing old-fashioned money laundering techniques combined with sophisticated document forgery.
Hundreds of thousands of files obtained from A7 reveal how front companies would deposit cash into bank accounts within the Swift system, which were then used to settle bills abroad for Russian entities. Chinese bank accounts were the final destination for over half of these funds. Notably, accounts at Standard Chartered in Hong Kong received $1.1 billion from A7-linked entities between late 2024 and August 2025, while DBS in Hong Kong received $273 million and Citigroup clients received $74 million. Deutsche Bank clients in Europe received approximately $18 million. First Abu Dhabi, the largest bank in the UAE, handled a significant portion, with A7 front companies opening 17 different accounts there, making over $1.8 billion in outbound payments and about $500 million in inter-company transactions.
Ilan Shor, a Moldovan oligarch, initially set up A7 in Russia and Kyrgyzstan with support from Promsvyazbank (PSB), a Russian state-owned bank closely linked to the defense industry. The scheme meticulously created fake invoices and other paperwork to deceive anti-money laundering checks by banks. For example, internal chats show A7 staff discussing a bank compliance query for a payment that was, in reality, for 500 night-vision scopes costing $510,000 for a Russian client in February 2025.
Zach Tvarozna, a former US government banking analyst, highlighted that the true scale of A7's money-laundering network is far greater than previously understood, underscoring the challenges of maintaining the integrity of traditional correspondent banking. While banks like Standard Chartered eventually detected suspicious activities and closed A7-linked accounts, the initial success of the scheme demonstrates significant limitations in the effectiveness of sanctions against Russia, with A7 now claiming to handle nearly a fifth of Russia’s foreign exchange transactions.
