German Court Sentences Black Market Banker to Nearly Four Years in Prison

Gerard Grischew was sentenced in Berlin to three years and ten months for running an unlicensed black‑market banking operation that moved €33 million between May 2022 and October 2025 using forged IDs, straw companies and fraudulently opened bank accounts; police said the system converted funds to cryptocurrency to obscure trails and facilitated cash and clandestine transfers, including payments for drugs, and the report also references a related cyber‑trading scam linked to other suspects.