LA based biotech tycoon, Serhat Gumrukcu, 42, of Los Angeles, faces a mandatory life sentence for the 2018 abduction and killing of Gregory Davis

Gumrukcu is GUILTY in murder-for-hire plot that led to killing of former business partner after their oil deal collapsed and the latter threatened legal action’

Davis, 49, was taken from his Vermont home on April 6, 2018, and found shot dead at the base of a snowbank a day later

Seven years later, on April 18, Gumrukcu was convicted of murder-for-hire, conspiracy, and wire fraud in the killing

Sentenced earlier, Gumrukcu’s hitman Jerry Banks, 37, was sentenced to 200 months in prison

Two more co-conspirators, 39-year-old Berk Eratay, received 110 months and 45-year-old Aron Ethridge, 140 months in prison

Guilty of Fraud and Murder: Serhat Gumrukcu [photo], is facing a life sentence in connection with the 2018 abduction and murder of his business partner Gregory Davis in May 2018

A California biotech entrepreneur has been found guilty of masterminding a murder-for-hire plot to kill a former business partner after their oil deal collapsed.
42-yer-old Serhat Gumrukcu of Los Angeles, was convicted with the the 2018 abduction and killing of Gregory Davis. He now faces mandatory life sentence.
Father of six Davis, 49, whose wife Melissa was pregnant with their seventh child, was abducted from his Vermont home and later found shot dead at the base of a snowbank, said the US Attorney’s Office.
Gumrukcu, the founder of Enochian Biosciences, was found guilty on April 18, 2025, of hatching the deadly plot after Davis threatened to sue him when their oil deal failed.

Gregory Davis [photo], was found shot at the base of a snowbank after he was taken from his Vermont home in Jan. 2018, by Jerry Banks, posing as a US Marshal. Banks was hired by Serhat Gumrukcu to kill his business partner when Davis threatened legal action over a failed oil deal

Prosecutors said the biotech tycoon recruited his friend Berk Eratay, 39, who then used a second intermediary, Aron Ethridge, 45, to hire hitman Jerry Banks, 37
On Jan. 6, 2018, Banks arrived at Davis’ home in a vehicle fitted with flashing red and blue lights, posing as a deputy US marshal and telling the unsuspecting home owner, he needed to come in for questioning.
Banks then abducted Davis from his Danville home and murdered him, prosecutors said.
The next day, January 7, the body was discovered in a snowbank a short distance from the victim’s home in Barnet, Vermont.
Following the 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 according to the US Attorney’s Office, later discovered Gumrukcu had lied in each interview, but cellphone data, purchase records, bank documents, emails, and messages ultimately exposed him and his co-conspirators’ roles in Davis’ kidnapping and murder.

Hitman Jerry Banks [image], abducted Davis from his Danville home On Jan. 6, 2018, posing as a Federal Marshall. He murdered Davis and dumped the body at a snow bank near the victim’s home

Around 2017, Gumrukcu was brokering a multi-million dollar biotech merger with Enochian Biosciences built around his purported HIV cure, a high-stakes deal that prosecutors said made silencing Davis all the more urgent.
Prosecutors said Davis’ threat to take legal action over their failed oil transaction could have jeopardized Gumrukcu’s bid to gain control of Enochian Biosciences.
Four years later, Gumrukcu was arrested for killing Davis in May 2022. In April 2025, he was convicted in 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,” stated 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.”
Two of Gumrukcu’s three co-conspirators in the Murder-For-Hire-Plot, Jerry Banks and Aron Ethridge were arrested in April 2022. The third suspect, Berk Eratay was arrested a month later, in May. 
Following their convictions, Jerry Banks, 37, of Gardener, Montana, was sentenced in September to 200 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
Berk Eratay, 39, of Las Vegas, Nevada, received a sentence of 110 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
The third co-conspirator Aron Ethridge, 45, of Henderson, Nevada, was sentenced to 140 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release.

Gumrukcu [photo], was brokering a multi-million dollar biotech merger with Enochian Biosciences built around his purported HIV cure, ‘a high-stakes deal that made silencing Davis all the more urgent’ – prosecutors

On September 25, Melissa Davis reading her victims impact statement in court told spoke about the devastating consequences of Gumrukcu killing her husband.
“I stand here today not only as a widow, but as the mother of seven children whose lives were shattered the night Gregg was taken from us,” she said, addressing Gumrukcu.
“You thought you could silence my husband, but your lies die here in this courtroom.”
Gumrukcu is facing mandatory life behind bars at sentencing, scheduled for November.