A biotech tycoon from California has been found guilty of masterminding a murder-for-hire plot targeting his former business partner — a father of six — after their oil deal collapsed.
Gregory Davis, 49, was kidnapped from his home in Danville, Vermont, and shot dead in January 2018 in a murder-for-hire plot planned by Turkish biotech tycoon Serhat Gumrukcu, 42, of Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Prosecutors say Gumrukcu had ordered the killing after Davis — whose wife, Melissa, was pregnant with their seventh child at the time — threatened to sue him over a failed oil deal. Gumrukcu is now facing a mandatory life sentence, according to the US Attorney's Office.
Sinister Plot After Failed Deal
Prosecutors said Gumrukcu, the founder of Enochian Biosciences, took the help of his friend, Berk Eratay, 38, who then brought in another middleman, Aron Ethridge, 45, to hire the hitman, Jerry Banks, 37.
On January 6, 2018, Banks showed up at Davis' home in a vehicle equipped with flashing red and blue lights, pretending to be a Deputy U.S. Marshal. He told the unsuspecting father of six that he needed to come in for questioning, prosecutors said.
Banks then abducted Davis from his Danville home and killed him. The next day, January 7, 2018, Davis's body was found in a snowbank not far from his house in Barnet, Vermont.
After his murder, "investigators quickly discovered emails and messaging indicating the tension between Gumrukcu and Davis over the failed oil deal, resulting in Gumrukcu being interviewed twice by the Federal Bureau of Investigation," prosecutors said.
Investigators eventually found that Gumrukcu had lied during every interview, but evidence from cellphone records, purchases, bank statements, emails, and text messages ultimately revealed his and his accomplices' involvement in Davis' kidnapping and murder, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Around 2017, Gumrukcu was negotiating a multimillion-dollar biotech merger with Enochian Biosciences centered on what he claimed was a breakthrough HIV cure. Prosecutors said the deal's success was so important to him that he became desperate to silence Davis.
They added that Davis' plan to take legal action over their failed oil deal threatened to derail Gumrukcu's efforts to secure control of Enochian Biosciences.
Out of Insecurity
Gumrukcu's downfall came in May 2022, when authorities arrested him and took him into custody. In April, he was found guilty of murder-for-hire, conspiracy, and wire fraud. "Serhat Gumrukcu tried to hide his role in the murder of Greg Davis by paying one man to pay another man to pay the hitman, who shot and killed Greg Davis on a January night in Vermont," said Acting United States Attorney Michael P. Drescher.
"Uncovering Gumrukcu's responsibility for this murder involved years of determined investigation by the men and women of Vermont's United States Attorney's Office, working closely with the FBI and the Vermont State Police."
Banks and Ethridge were arrested in April 2022, while Eratay was arrested the next month.
Banks was sentenced to 200 months, followed by five years of supervised release. Eratay was sentenced to 110 months in prison and three years of supervised release, while Ethridge was given 140 months behind bars and five years of supervised release.
Last month, Davis' widow, Melissa, slammed Gumrukcu in court, saying he destroyed her family's life and left her to raise their seven children alone after having her husband killed, VTDigger reported.
At that same court hearing, Gumrukcu's sentencing was postponed until November.
