A former teenage magician who allegedly fabricated his own medical degree to deceive US healthcare officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Turkish biotech entrepreneur accused of planning the murder of a Vermont parent shot dead in 2018 is also accused of planning the murder of another father.
The 39-year-old founder of Enochian Biosciences, which says it is working on HIV, hepatitis, and cancer medicines, is Serhat Gumrukcu.
He is thought to control $98 million of the company’s $137 million valuation, which is listed on the NASDAQ.
The company’s work is based on a “completely preclinical pipeline of alleged miracle medicines,” according to a recent statement from Hindenburg Research.
Gumrukcu, who is not authorized to practice medicine in the US, created the company while claiming to have a PhD from a Russian university and considerable medical training.
Additionally, according to the prosecution, his degree cannot be verified with certainty.
Gumrukcu was detained at LAX Airport last month on accusations of planning the 2018 murder of Gregory Davis, a colleague who the government believes was about to denounce him for fraud.
He is currently being held in federal detention in California on suspicion of planning a murder.
The 39-year-lawyer old’s adamantly maintains his innocence.
The day after a strange individual pretended to be a US Marshal and showed up at Davis’ home demanding to speak with him, Davis was discovered shot dead in a snowy bank on the side of the road close to his home.
In order to prevent Davis from informing the FBI, the prosecution claims that Gumrukcu hired the hitman, later identified as Jerry Banks, through two middlemen to kidnap and kill Davis.
According to court documents obtained by DailyMail.com, the two had entered an oil agreement years earlier but had broken up.
Gumrukcu and his brother lied to Davis about the profits of their arrangement, in Davis’ opinion. Gumrukcu had also been accused of writing bad checks at around the same time in a California state court.
He may be seen in YouTube videos from 2002, when he was still a youngster, performing magic acts in Turkey. He later traveled to the US to woo Silicon Valley and the healthcare industry.
His social media accounts show him mingling with famous people like Helen Mirren and Boy George, and Anthony Fauci was impressed with his company’s work in disease research.
The National Health Institute’s Fauci instructed his staff to arrange a meeting with Gumrukcu and a colleague to discuss their work on curing hepatitis B, according to an email acquired by The Wall Street Journal.
Tomorrow [the coworker] will visit the NIH with a scientist who has some extremely intriguing hepatitis B findings.
He informed a staff colleague in an email dated February 2, 2020 that he was “suppressed with the coronavirus” and that he was “scheduled to meet with them.”
It’s unknown how he collected money for Enochian or whether any of its treatments are now being applied.
The only individuals who “appeared to have a substantial conflict with Davis or any reason for Davis’s execution,” according to federal prosecutors, were Gumrukcu and his brother, who lives in Turkey and hasn’t visited the US in years.
In 2017, Davis threatened them, claiming that they were “defrauding him” in a multi-million dollar oil deal and that he would “go to the FBI with evidence.”
Although the specifics of the 2015 agreement are unknown, prosecutors believe the Turkish brothers “failed to comply on the agreement and made numerous assertions about their attempts to perform.”
Davis thought the Gumrukcus had misled him in a number of ways.
Serhat Gumrukcu was charged with felony fraud at the same time in a California state court.
He was also in the process of acquiring a controlling interest in Enochian. According to the indictment, any issues with the oil agreement would have put his ability to acquire a controlling interest in Enochian in jeopardy.
Aron Ethridge, a buddy of Berk Eratay who worked for Gumrukcu, is acquaintances with Banks, the hitman accused of impersonating as a US Marshal.
Ethridge has admitted to being a part of the scheme and will likely testify against the other three individuals. According to him, Eratay and Gumrukcu hired him to find someone to kill Davis, and he recruited Banks to do it.
According to bank records, Gumrukcu sent Eratay $150,000 between June and October 2017. “In increments of $9,000 to $1,000 below the $10,000 currency reporting requirement,” Eratay withdrew the money.
The proffer asserts that he has a “documented history” of fraud, which includes being detained and accused of felony fraud in 2017.
A Turkish investor in real estate was conned out of almost $1 million by Gumrukcu. Although he was actually using the money for other purposes, he told the investor that he was using it to buy and renovate a Los Angeles home.
Gumrukcu also gave the investor phony papers that were purportedly written by an attorney. Bounced checks related to his business transactions with Davis were the subject of the other alleged fraud scheme in the state complaint.
The proffer also claims that he amended a January 2019 guilty plea to one count of felony fraud into a misdemeanor, which is legal under California law.
According to the documents, he was detained in Turkey in 2012 on suspicion of fraud but left the nation while the case was still pending.
Since then, “He has stayed outside Turkey to evade that prosecution.”
2020 saw his successful attempt to get the Turkish case dismissed from afar. Despite failing, he made the decision not to come back and answer the accusations.
In their argument against bail, the prosecution said that he was a definite flight risk.
Common sense would dictate that Gumrukcu would seek refuge or leave rather than serve his entire life in prison or receive the death penalty. Simply put, a wealthy foreign national accused of murder should be held in custody pending trial,’ they claimed.
In accordance with his request, the judge detained him awaiting further proceedings.
Since his arrest, Enochian has made an effort to separate itself from him.
CEO Mark Dybul attempted to allay concerns in a letter to shareholders earlier this month by stating the accusations were the result of a “smear campaign” by short-sellers looking to benefit from the company’s problems.
Following the announcement of Gumrukcu’s arrest, shares in Enochian dropped from $5.88 to $3.76.
Up until his subsequent court appearance, Gumrukcu has been detained.