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A father of six who was brutally murdered and left in a Vermont snowbank was the target of a hit ordered by his multimillionaire business partner, according to federal prosecutors.
Gregory Davis, 49, was forcibly taken from his Danville, Vermont, residence and fatally shot in January 2018 in a murder-for-hire scheme orchestrated by Turkish biotech tycoon Serhat Gumrukcu, 42, based in Los Angeles, California, as stated by the US Attorney’s Office.
The murder was planned by Gumrukcu after Davis – whose spouse, Melissa, was expecting their seventh child at the time of the murder – threatened to pursue legal action over a failed oil transaction between them. Gumrukcu is now facing a mandatory life sentence.
Enochian Biosciences founder Gumrukcu called upon his friend, Berk Eratay, 38, to arrange, through a second intermediary, Aron Ethridge, 45, for hitman Jerry Banks, 37, to show up at Davis’ home posing as a Deputy US Marshal, prosecutors said.
Banks drove to Davis’ residence in a car equipped with red and blue emergency lights and told the unsuspecting father he needed to be questioned.
The killer then kidnapped and murdered Davis. His body was found near his house a day later.
Investigators immediately made the bone-chilling discovery of tense text and email exchanges between Davis and Gumrukcu.
Documents previously reviewed by the Daily Mail exposed that Davis had been planning to report Gumrukcu and his brother to the FBI for allegedly lying about profits from the oil deal from years prior.
Gregory Davis (pictured with his wife, Melissa) was abducted from his Danville, Vermont home and shot dead in January 2018 in a murder-for-hire plot
Turkish biotech tycoon Serhat Gumrukcu (pictured) was found guilty of organizing the murder of Davis
The killer then kidnapped and killed Davis. His body was found near his house a day later (pictured: the crime scene near where Davis was found)
Davis threatened to report Gumrukcu around 2017, when the murderous gene therapy researcher was trying to acquire a majority stake in Enochian Biosciences, which claimed to be developing treatments for cancer, hepatitis and HIV.
The indictment alleged that any complications surrounding the oil deal would have jeopardized his ability to obtain a majority stake in the company.
‘In the weeks that followed Davis’s death, Gumrukcu biotech deal closed,’ a government sentencing memo obtained by The Sacramento Bee reads.
‘Gumrukcu was paid millions of dollars. And he almost got away with it.’
Prosecutors said Gumrukcu lied to the FBI during the investigation, and that cellphone location information, purchase and banking records, and messages ultimately linked him and his co-conspirators to Davis’ death.
Gumrukcu was arrested in May 2022 and has been in custody since. He was found guilty of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in April, according to an IRS press release.
‘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,’ Acting US Attorney Michael P. Drescher said.
‘Serhat Gumrukcu is a ruthless criminal whose greed drove him to order the death of his own business partner,’ FBI Special Agent in Charge Craig L. Tremaroli added.
Prosecutors said Gumrukcu (pictured) lied to the FBI during the investigation, and that cellphone location information, purchase and banking records, and messages linked him to Davis’ death
Gumrukcu (pictured) was arrested in May 2022 and has been in custody since. His sentencing was postponed at the end of September and was rescheduled for November
Hitman Jerry Banks (pictured) was sentenced in September to 200 months in prison
Prosecutors have also previously questioned the legitimacy of his medical background and the PhD he allegedly earned in Russia. They found that he is unlicensed to practice in the US.
Banks, of Fort Garland, Colorado, and Ethridge, of Henderson, Nevada, were arrested in April 2022. Berk Eratay, 35, of Las Vegas, Nevada, was arrested in May.
Banks, Eratay and Ethridge were sentenced in late September hearings, while Gumrukcu’s sentencing was delayed until November.
Banks will serve 200 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. Eratay will serve 110 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Ethridge will serve 140 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
To Davis’s widow’s dismay, the judge postponed formally imposing Gumrukcu’s sentence at the conclusion of his trial, as requested by his lawyer, Susan Marcus, according to Vtdigger.
While Melissa Davis, the deceased’s wife, forgave Eratay in court, she had harsher words for the plot’s ringleader.
‘You thought you could silence my husband, but your lies die here in this courtroom,’ she told Gumrukcu in court on September 25, when his sentencing was postponed.
