A new federal indictment sheds more light on the alleged murder-for-hire plot and the financial rift that prosecutors say led to the kidnapping and shooting death of a Danville man nearly five years ago.
The eight-page charging document filed last week in U.S. District Court in Burlington continues to paint Serhat Gumrukcu, 39, of Los Angeles as the leader of a four-person, cross-country ring of men accused earlier this year of taking part in the killing of 49-year-old Gregory Davis in 2018.
While prosecutors had previously described the dispute between Gumrukcu and Davis as an oil deal that had gone bad, the new filing provides a deeper look into that transaction and the amounts of money involved.
David Kirby, Gumrukcu’s attorney, declined comment Monday on the latest indictment against his client.
According to the new indictment, the alleged plot traced its beginning to January 2015, about three years before Davis was found dead in a snowbank after being kidnapped from his home. That’s when prosecutors say Gumrukcu told a person, referred to only as “G.G.” in the court filing, that he owned a controlling interest in Lauren Trading LLC, a business allegedly organized in Oman and involved in oil trading.
From 2015 to January 2018, Davis operated Mode Commodities, which sought to take part in oil trading, the filing stated.
G.G., who operated a company called Quadrant Financial Group, served as a middleman between Gumrukcu and Davis, relaying communications between the two men regarding the business transaction, according to the indictment.
In late January 2015, the indictment stated, Quadrant organized an oil deal meant to raise “millions of dollars” in profit. The crux of the deal called for Quadrant to buy oil from Mode Commodities and sell it to another entity at a higher price.
Gumrukcu joined Quadrant as a partner in the deal, and as part of the transaction, Quadrant was required to provide a “bank confirm letter” for 22 million British pounds of currency that Gumrukcu indicated he had access to, the filing stated.
On Jan. 28, 2015, Gumrukcu and Berk Eratay, who provided information technology services to Gumrukcu, “caused the email transmission” of the letter to be sent to G.G. and Davis, purportedly from Cyprus First Bank, stating that the funds were available for the oil deal.
“Davis and G.G. almost immediately determined that the bank comfort letter was fraudulent in part because Cyprus First Bank did not exist,” the indictment stated. “These and other issues undermined the planned oil deal.”
In February 2015, after the earlier deal failed, G.G. help Gumrukcu and Davis form Mode Lauren, a partnership designed to complete the earlier deal that fell apart. According to the filing, Gumrukcu would obtain the financing while G.G. and Davis worked on the oil transactions.
Again, Gumrukcu and Eratay “caused the transmission of various emails” falsely purporting to show that the financing had been obtained through a Turkish bank, the indictment stated. Both Gumrukcu and Eratay are originally from Turkey.
Eventually, in 2017, as problems with finances continued to surface, Davis suspected fraud by Gumrukcu and was suggesting to G.G. that criminal charges should be pursued, according to the indictment. Davis then agreed to “stand down” in exchange for some partial payments of tens of thousands of dollars from Gumrukcu, prosecutors allege.
“After these payments, Gumrukcu and Eratay avoided further communications with G.G.,” the filing stated. “By late December (2017), Davis was again threatening legal action, threats G.G. passed on to Gumrukcu. On January 6, 2018, Davis was murdered.”
Earlier charging documents alleged a conspiracy between Eratay and Gumrukcu along with another man, Jerry Banks, to kill Davis.
The latest indictment also adds a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the murder-for-hire plot against Gumrukcu and Eratay relating to their electronic communications.
Banks, 34, of Colorado, was initially indicted in April, charged with kidnapping Davis from his home in Danville on Jan. 6, 2018.
A day later, according to court filings, Davis’ body was found in a snowbank about 15 miles from his house. He had died after being shot multiple times. According to charging documents, Banks posed as a U.S. marshal and told Davis that he had come to arrest him on racketeering charges.
Another suspect arrested this year, Aron Lee Ethridge, 42, of Henderson, Nevada, has already reached a plea deal with prosecutors. He is awaiting sentencing and faces up to 27 years in prison.
He pleaded guilty in July to murder for hire and conspiracy to commit kidnapping with death resulting. Prosecutors said Ethridge found and helped to instruct Banks to carry out the killing.
Prosecutors allege Ethridge received more than $100,000 from Eratay and Gumrukcu as payment to “cover expenses for the murder.” Eratay had been friends with Gumrukcu and also worked with him in the past.
According to charging documents, Eratay had told Ethridge that he was acting on behalf of Gumrukcu, that Gumrukcu was putting up the money, and that Gumrukcu was mad with Davis over a failed business deal.
The business deal that Gumrukcu feared would be derailed involved a biomedical research company and made him $100 million in stock, according to court records.
Gumrukcu and Eratay are scheduled to be arraigned later this month in connection with the new indictment. If convicted of all the charges against them, Gumrukcu, Eratay and Banks each face up to life in prison.
