Summary: Enochian Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENOB)

• Last week, Enochian Biosciences’ co-founder, “scientific founder”, “inventor”, and largest shareholder, Serhat Gumrukcu, was arrested by Federal authorities over allegations that he conspired in a plot to murder a Vermont father of six.
• The victim, Gregory Davis, was murdered on January 6th, 2018, just 19 days before Gumrukcu was scheduled to appear in court to defend himself against felony fraud allegations related to a 2016 deal with Davis. Federal prosecutors argued that the prospective merger deal that eventually resulted in Enochian going public served as a key motive for the murder.
• Enochian is a biotech company with an entirely preclinical pipeline of claimed miracle cures, vaccines and treatments for HIV, Influenza, Hepatitis, Cancer, and COVID-19. The company claimed last week that Gumrukcu “has had no formal role in the Company” and that the incident was “completely unrelated to the Company”.
• However, Enochian’s own disclosures indicate that the company and its pipeline are completely dependent on Gumrukcu. Every product Enochian is investigating appears to have been licensed to it by Gumrukcu-controlled or affiliated entities or are otherwise based on his research.
• Unbeknownst to investors (but known to Enochian’s senior leadership) Gumrukcu’s latest arrest for a murder conspiracy is simply the most recent in a string of alleged crimes by Gumrukcu.
• Gumrukcu also currently faces criminal charges in his native Turkey where, in August 2012, he was arrested based on accusations of falsely posing as a doctor and charging a desperate family $275,000 to treat a terminally ill cancer patient, who subsequently died, with substances that a real oncologist would later describe as “useless.”
• Gumrukcu then fled Turkey despite an outstanding arrest warrant. Three years later, in August 2015, he sold similar ‘miracle’ concoctions to the desperate parents of a young Pennsylvania boy who had terminal cancer. When the boy died after an initial $59,100 treatment, Gumrukcu refused to return the family’s advanced payment of $253,000, resulting in litigation.
• In February 2017, Gumrukcu was arrested by authorities after the State of California accused him of a slew of white-collar crimes, including fraud, identity theft, and check kiting – a total of 14 felonies.
• The company hired Gumrukcu as a consultant in April 2017, just 2 months after his arrest for the alleged crime spree.
• Despite the ongoing criminal proceedings, Enochian still moved forward with acquiring and taking public a Gumrukcu-affiliated entity in January 2018, describing Gumrukcu as the “sole inventor” of all of the acquired company’s technology. The deal gave Gumrukcu and his related entities & individuals 50% of the combined company.
• As he awaited sentencing following a pleading guilty to one felony, Gumrukcu attended the Nasdaq bell ringing ceremony for Enochian, likely with permission from his probation officer. He was praised as Enochian’s “scientific founder” at the ceremony.
• Authorities in California told us that in January 2018, Gumrukcu’s felony plea charge had been reduced to a misdemeanor after he paid over $1 million in restitution to victims.
• Our research indicates that Enochian executives knew about Gumrukcu’s criminal history. Mark Dybul, CEO of Enochian, wrote a glowing letter of recommendation to a Turkish criminal court on behalf of Gumrukcu.
• Invoking his close friendship and mentee relationship with Dr. Anthony Fauci and his relationship with Bill Gates, Dybul called Gumrukcu a “rare genius” who had come up with platforms to cure HIV, hepatitis B, all strains of influenza, Zika, dengue fever, and COVID. Dybul also wrote that the now-accused murderer was “deeply compassionate, empathetic, and approachable”, providing his “strongest recommendation”.
• In a phone interview, Chairman Rene Sindlev admitted to us “I knew that he had been charged for 14 (felony) counts” but moved forward with the deal and expanded the relationship anyway.
• In the years since, Enochian has awarded lucrative cash consulting and licensing contracts to entities controlled by Gumrukcu and his husband. Enochian executives have repeatedly failed to disclose Gumrukcu’s criminal activity to shareholders.
• Enochian’s former CFO is currently embroiled in an undisclosed lawsuit with Enochian’s leadership, claiming he was fired for asking “critical questions” about “serious financial improprieties” and large payments to Gumrukcu, and for questioning the company’s close association with an individual accused of numerous felonies.
• Gumrukcu has continued to sell unlicensed and unvetted “miracle” treatments to desperate parents of terminally ill children, bilking them of hundreds of thousands of dollars. His private practice’s office is located in the same building as Enochian’s headquarters, and its business is deeply intertwined with Enochian, despite the company’s claims to the contrary.
• We have been unable to find any jurisdiction in which Gumrukcu is licensed as a medical doctor. He is unlicensed in California, where he has apparently been practicing medicine anyway, and where he has claimed to have made his major breakthroughs for Enochian.
• Gumrukcu claims to have spent 12+ years earning an M.D. and multiple PhDs in Russia and Turkey. Our research indicates he made it all up. He has no medical degree and no PhDs.
• His name does not appear in the official Russian national degree database. The school he claimed to graduate from in Russia sent us a formal letter showing that he never even enrolled. We also checked with Russian border control and police who had no record of Gumrukcu ever having a Russian student visa or even a short-term tourist visa, let alone spending years studying medicine.
• Instead, Gumrukcu looks to have purchased a fake Russian medical degree on the black market, a common problem in Russia, as reported by media.
• As part of our research, we purchased a similar black market Russian medical degree from the same school, with the same claimed major, the same date, and the same “official” stamp as Gumrukcu’s. The process was surprisingly easy—the hardest part was smuggling it out of Russia through a neighboring country to the U.S., given new wartime export restrictions.
• We also checked with the Turkish university Gumrukcu claimed to have received a PhD. They had no record of him. Meanwhile, the Turkish medical school where he began undergraduate studies confirmed he had attended, but later dropped out before graduating.
• Turkish criminal records show that Gumrukcu admitted to police that his highest level of education was a high school degree, despite the arrest taking place after the period where Gumrukcu claimed to have already been a doctor.
• We learned of Gumrukcu’s actual past by scouring old magic shops and second-hand bookstores in Turkey, finding that he was a local magician. With his stage name “Dr. No”, he studied and taught spoon-bending, firewalking, and performing as a mentalist, claiming magical healing powers and garnering praise from the likes of fellow hucksters like Uri Geller.
• Gumrukcu’s magic mentor shared grainy DVD recordings of Gumrukcu’s local performances that he found in a dusty cardboard box in the backroom of a magic shop. The performances took place in Turkey during time periods when Gumrukcu would later claim to be in Russia studying medicine.
• Based on our investigation, we strongly believe that Gumrukcu’s education credentials are entirely fabricated. Consequently, we believe Enochian’s claimed scientific breakthroughs have been developed by a fake doctor with a long criminal rap sheet who now stands accused of murder.
• Despite the company’s claims that top scientists are still behind the research, many are already backing away. An international cancer doctor that Gumrukcu claimed was his mentor told us a picture of him on the website for Gumrukcu’s research entity, the Seraph Research Institute, is a fake: “I never wore a Seraph coat. It´s a forgery.” “I never wore (a) Seraph coat as shown in the picture, so how could I validate his science?”
• A world-renowned microbiologist who briefly served on Enochian’s Scientific Advisory Board and was previously quoted by Enochian as saying he was “blown away” by Gumrukcu’s “brilliant creativity” told us: “I agree retrospectively I should have done some due-diligence”. On the validity of the science, he wrote: “I have never validated anything, and they should not use my name.”
• A former senior executive told us: “I left because I lost scientific trust in what [Gumrukcu] was promoting…I had a few facts that corroborated that he lied to me and when scientists start to lie a little bit and massage the data, then I am afraid to have another Elizabeth Holmes story.”
• Gumrukcu has siphoned an estimated ~$20 million in cash from Enochian shareholders through a series of license agreements, consulting contracts, and other related-party transactions. Gumrukcu and his spouse own the largest single stake in Enochian, about 32% of the company, worth ~$90 million as of this writing. We expect he will sell shares to fund his legal expenses.
• We think Gumrukcu is a lifelong con artist, who has catapulted himself from being a small-town Turkish magician to leading a publicly-traded, Nasdaq-listed medical research enterprise and fooling many along the way.
• With its founder and main source of scientific discoveries jailed on murder-for-hire allegations, this cash-burning company without peer-reviewed research and no genuine clinical prospects is now a “catch me if you can” story that we believe has finally reached the end-phase.

Initial Disclosure: After extensive research, we have taken a short position in shares of Enochian Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENOB). This report represents our opinion, and we encourage every reader to do their own due diligence. Please see our full disclaimer at the bottom of the report.

Introduction: Enochian’s Key Scientist, Co-Founder And Inventor Was Arrested In A Murder-For-Hire Conspiracy Plot Last Week

On May 25, 2022, Federal prosecutors announced the arrest of Enochian Biosciences co-founder and key inventor, Serhat Gumrukcu, as one of two men charged in a murder-for-hire conspiracy resulting in the death of Vermont resident Gregory Davis.

On January 7, 2018, Gregory Davis, father of 6 – with another child on the way – was found murdered in a snowbank in Barnet, Vermont. Criminal court records show that the killer, disguised as a U.S. Marshal, had gone to Davis´ home, handcuffed him and later shot him multiple times in the head and torso.

Gumrukcu’s alleged co-conspirator, Berk Eratay, works at Gumrukcu’s clinic, Seraph Medical. Like Gumrukcu, Eratay also has a past as a Turkish magician, claiming to be a master of “biokinesis” or “the ability to use kinetic energy to reprogram the genes in your own body”.

As the Department of Justice noted in its press release, if convicted, Gumrukcu and his co-conspirator face mandatory life in prison or the death penalty.

Federal prosecutors outlined Gumrukcu’s motive, describing how Davis threatened to go to the FBI alleging fraud against Gumrukcu and his brother:

“In 2017, Davis was threatening the Gumrukcus about going to the FBI with evidence that the Gumrukcus were defrauding him in a multimillion-dollar oil deal that the Gumrukcus had entered into with Davis in early 2015.”

Prosecutors made clear that in addition to avoiding criminal fraud charges, a key motive for the alleged murder plot was that Gumrukcu was in the midst of closing the merger with Enochian, and Davis’s testimony may have threatened the deal:

“That same year, 2017, Serhat Gumrukcu was putting together a successful deal that came together soon after the murder, namely, his significant ownership stake in a biotech company, Enochian Bioscience. Gumrukcu therefore had a strong motive to prevent Davis from reporting yet another fraud, and likely threatening the Enochian deal.”

Enochian responded to the indictment of its co-founder by claiming in a press release that Gumrukcu “has had no formal role in the Company” and that the incident was “completely unrelated to the Company”.

The company’s own SEC filings contradict this claim. Enochian makes clear in its most recent annual report that it heavily relies on Dr. Gumrukcu and his network of privately-owned consulting companies:

“Many of the techniques utilized in the development of our product candidates have been developed by Dr. Serhat Gumrukcu, and we rely on the services of Dr. Gumrukcu, and of G-Tech Bio LLC and SRI, in the continued development of our pipeline. Our future performance will depend on our ability to retain the services of Dr. Gumrukcu, G-Tech Bio LLC, and SRI.” [Pg. 20]

As we will show, the company has been aware of “Doctor” Serhat Gumrukcu’s criminal past and is undeniably deeply threaded to him.

What follows is our research into Gumrukcu and Enochian, an expansive international investigation compiled over the course of months and encompassing thousands of documents and dozens of sources.

Introduction: Background On The Company And Its Pre-Revenue, Preclinical Pipeline

Enochian Biosciences (NASDAQ:ENOB) is a biotech company with a pipeline of prospective vaccines and treatments for HIV, Cancer, Hepatitis B, COVID and influenza, along with other potential groundbreaking “miracle” treatments.

The company’s pipeline is entirely preclinical, meaning it is very early-stage, with no revenue. With only $11 million in cash on hand, a ~$4.2 million quarterly cash burn rate, and $7 million in near-term notes payable, the company will need to raise significant capital to even attempt to advance its pipeline. [Pgs. 2, 7] The company recently filed a prospectus announcing its intention to raise up to $100 million.

For perspective, companies usually take about 10 years to move a drug from discovery to approval and then distribution in the marketplace. Clinical trials alone often take upwards of six to seven years.

Despite this, Enochian’s market cap soared to ~$600 million in November 2021. Prior to us publicly identifying last week that Gumrukcu had been arrested in a murder-for-hire conspiracy, its market cap had settled around $320 million. The company still ended last week with a $235 million market cap.

One explanation for the company’s historical valuation and general excitement had been the glowing biography and credentials of Enochian’s co-founder, star scientist, and single largest shareholder (who owns 32% of the company), Dr. Serhat Gumrukcu.^[1]

Dubbed Enochian’s “inventor,” Dr. Gumrukcu’s research serves as the foundation for much, if not all, of Enochian’s therapeutic pipeline. The company disclosed as recently as January 2022, in a shareholder letter penned by its CEO, that “…the ideas behind Enochian BioSciences’ pipeline come from the inventor, Dr. Serhat Gumrukcu…”

A Brief Summary Of Dr. Gumrukcu’s Contributions To Enochian

In April 2017, Enochian Biosciences (then known as DanDrit Biotech) hired Gumrukcu as a consultant to help improve the efficacy of its flagship pipeline candidate, a potential cancer vaccine. [Pg. 1]

Dr. Gumrukcu determined that DanDrit’s product was worthless. Tech executive Rene Sindlev, who eventually took over as the company’s Chairman, later said Dandrit’s product “couldn’t be given away.”

Instead, Gumrukcu introduced Sindlev and the DanDrit team to his HIV research, which the company embraced.

In January 2018, DanDrit Biotech was officially reborn as Enochian Biosciences after acquiring Dr. Gumrukcu’s secret “stealth mode” HIV research through a merger with a privately-owned company controlled by Dr. Gumrukcu and his husband, giving them 50% of the combined company. [Pg. 8]

The merger agreement disclosed that Dr. Gumrukcu was the “sole inventor of all Company IP Rights and Company Technology and did not acquire or derive any portion of Company IP Rights or Company Technology from any other Person”. [Pg. 25] It was later reported that Dr. Gumrukcu was “behind key parts of all five HIV drugs” in Enochian’s pipeline.^[2]

When Enochian executives were invited to ring the closing bell at Nasdaq in Dec. 2018, its then-CEO, in a short address, twice referred to Gumrukcu as the company´s “scientific founder”.

From July 2018 to April 2021, Enochian licensed intellectual property or entered into consulting agreements with Gumrukcu-controlled entities related to HIV, cancer, Hepatitis B, influenza and Covid-19. As of today, it appears that every therapy in Enochian’s pipeline stems from the work of Dr. Serhat Gumrukcu.

Enochian’s Reliance On Dr. Gumrukcu Cannot Be Overstated

As stated above, Enochian also makes it clear in its own SEC filings that it heavily relies on Dr. Gumrukcu and his network of privately-owned consulting companies. [Pg. 20]

Enochian has touted its preclinical pipeline at numerous conferences over the last few years. Regardless of whether these presentations relate to Hepatitis B, Cancer, HIV, or COVID-19, Dr. Gumrukcu always seems to be the individual running the show and controlling the presentation of data.

Gumrukcu’s appearances at these conferences have been cited by other doctors who have provided glowing quotes about Enochian and Gumrukcu used in a January 2022 shareholder letter and in some cases reused as recently as yesterday.

As we show later, many claimed supporting doctors have begun to back away, or have outright alleged that Gumrukcu forged or exaggerated their support.

Developing So Many Groundbreaking Therapies In Such A Short Amount Of Time Would Require A “Rare Genius”

That’s Exactly How Dr. Gumrukcu’s Business Partners Describe Him: “Leonardo Da Vinci, Nikola Tesla and Einstein In One And The Same Person”

Enochian’s CEO, Mark Dybul, has called Dr. Gumrukcu a “rare genius” that is “not bound by scientific discipline or dogma.” [Pg. 2] Elsewhere, Dybul has said Gumrukcu has “brilliant scientific ideas.” Rene Sindlev, Enochian’s chairman, offered even higher praise, comparing Dr. Gumrukcu to some of the most impressive thinkers in human history.

“Hold on tight to your shares. Our researcher and inventor is the biotech world’s answer to Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Larry Page. People close to him compare him to Leonardo Da Vinci, Nikola Tesla and Einstein in one and the same person.”

Like many we spoke with, Sindlev later acknowledged to us that he relied on others to validate Gumrukcu’s credentials and expertise, saying, “I met Serhat in 2016 because I was impressed by his science and I´m happy to say I have no clue about science”.

In researching Dr. Gumrukcu’s background, it is easy to understand where this praise comes from. Based on earning an M.D. and several PhDs before the age of 30, his academic pedigree alone would be extremely impressive.

Dr. Gumrukcu’s list of claimed accomplishments spans far beyond academia. He claims he volunteered for organizations like UNESCO, worked as a licensed doctor in Turkey, started a non-profit, and is a member of a wide range of prestigious medical associations and committees, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Gumrukcu also describes himself as an “exceptional tango dancer,” a martial artist, and a psychonaut, interested in altering consciousness through the use of psychedelics.

Gumrukcu Describes Himself as Having a “More-Than-Photographic” Memory, Being Able To Speak 9 Languages And Harnessing The Ability To Run Unbiased Scientific Experiments In His Mind

In a November, 2021 podcast interview, Gumrukcu claimed his pre-clinical-stage COVID-19 drug, which hasn’t even reached phase 1 trials, will both treat and prevent “any [current] variant or coronavirus strain” as well as “any variant the virus will mutate into” in the future. [1:18:20]

If true, this would likely make Enochian one of the most valuable companies on the planet – especially considering Gumrukcu’s claim that he was somehow hoping to have the drugs submission approved by the FDA within months, despite it having yet to undergo any trials. [1:19:00]

In the same interview, Gumrukcu explained that he has a “more-than-photographic” memory, which allowed him to teach himself how to read at just 3 ½ years old and learn to speak 9 languages. [16:05]

Further, he discussed his ability to bypass innate human bias and run scientific experiments in his mind with a high degree of accuracy. [37:00]

“He’s Defrauded So Many People. He Does This Over and Over And Over Again. He’s A True, Brilliant Con Artist” – Former Associate of Gumrukcu

In Addition To His Recent Murder-For-Hire Indictment, Gumrukcu Also Faces Criminal Charges for Fraud in Turkey, Had Previously Been Charged With 14 (Other) Felonies In The United States And Has Fabricated His Medical Background

In collaboration with journalists and investigators in Russia, Denmark, Turkey, and the United States, we conducted an extensive review of Gumrukcu and his colleagues’ activities over the last 25 years.

We spoke with Gumrukcu’s magician mentor, old teachers, former classmates, business partners, and patients. We contacted many of the organizations that Gumrukcu claims to be associated with, including the universities where he claims to have earned multiple degrees. We have also spoken with many of the victims of Gumrukcu’s financial and medical crimes – several of whom seem oddly enraptured by him.

We have concluded that Gumrukcu’s claimed background is virtually a complete lie. Far from a highly credentialed scientist, Gumrukcu’s career is instead that of an international con artist.

Additionally, we conducted an extensive analysis of Enochian Bioscience’s financials, concluding that Gumrukcu has siphoned tens of millions of dollars in shareholder cash from Enochian to his privately-owned entities.

We also present evidence that Enochian’s top executives, including Chairman Rene Sindlev, CEO Mark Dybul and other company directors, have repeatedly come to Gumrukcu’s aid, quietly helping him fight extensive criminal charges while concealing the issues from investors.

Based on our research, it seems clear that Sindlev and Dybul have long been aware of the issues with Enochian’s “inventor,” and have become party to the massive deception.

Part 1: Serhat Gumrukcu Was Already A Wanted Man Prior To His Recent Murder Charges

He Fled to the U.S. After a Turkish Court Issued an Arrest Warrant for Him for Allegedly Conning a Terminal Cancer Patient

Serhat Gumrukcu left Turkey in 2013 after a High Criminal Court issued the equivalent of a bench warrant to force him to answer criminal charges of medical fraud and deceiving a terminal cancer patient, according to the indictment and case files viewed by Turkish lawyers on behalf of Hindenburg.^[3]

The charges carry a penalty of up to 10 years in prison, Turkish lawyers told us.

The case, dossier no. 2013/65 is still active. Hindenburg has obtained a full copy of the case file after being granted legal permission by one of the alleged victims.

Police arrested Gumrukcu as the suspect in a fraud case on August 5, 2012, according to screenshots of a police database reviewed by Hindenburg. Gumrukcu then defied a court-imposed travel ban and fled to the United States. 

Ten years later, he still hasn’t returned to Turkey to face the court. As recently as two weeks ago, on May 20, 2022, attorneys for Gumrukcu appeared before a judge and requested, again, that the court cancel Gumrukcu’s arrest warrant. The judge denied the request and the warrant remains active.

Based on notes taken by the lawyer who reviewed the “thick” indictment and case files, Gumrukcu introduced himself to the cancer patient and his friends as a medical oncologist and a shareholder of Istanbul Cerrahi Hospital.

He allegedly received $275,000 to treat the patient, Elsever Bunyatov, using mistletoe, stem cell therapy, and other treatments not available in Turkey or Azerbaijan at the time.^[4]

The patient deteriorated and had to be admitted to hospital. He later died. His actual oncologist criticized the prescribed treatment, saying that Gumrukcu was not an oncologist or a doctor and that the treatment was useless.

After hearing these comments from the oncologist, a friend of the patient pulled a gun on Gumrukcu and threatened him if he did not return the money, the notes state.

In a phone message to his brother, Gumrukcu claimed he was being held hostage, according to a Turkish lawyer who reviewed case file documents. The brother went to police and told them Serhat was a senior year medical student at Dokuz Eylul University, in Izmir, and was involved in alternative medicine practices.

There is no mention of a medical diploma or PhDs from Russia in the court documents, contrary to Gumrukcu’s later claims.

In fact, Gumrukcu stated that he dropped out at year 6 from the School of Medicine at Izmir Dokuz Eylul University as modern medicine did not satisfy him. He went abroad to study alternative medicine, according to his own statements to police following his 24-hour detention on August 5, 2012.

Based on statements and hospital records, the prosecution believe that Gumrukcu deceived the victims about his experience and medical credentials while taking advantage of them while they were in a vulnerable situation.

A hearing on May 9, 2013, resulted in the issuance of the rough equivalent to a bench warrant, requiring Gumrukcu’s arrest to ensure he defended the case. At the same time, the Court imposed a travel ban on Gumrukcu, prohibiting him from leaving Turkey.

The lawyer reviewing the case files for Hindenburg told us that Gumrukcu did not submit a written statement to the court relating to his case until October 2020. In a handwritten letter, Gumrukcu said that he “had to flee Turkey on October 26, 2013, after the plaintiffs put a gun to my head.”

In the same letter, dated October 14, 2020, Gumrukcu denied all accusations against him and claimed he had “only just found out about the case.” He also asked the court to lift the travel ban and arrest warrant against him, asking for assurances that he would not be arrested if he returned to Turkey and that he would be acquitted.

Not Only Were Enochian’s Executives Aware of The Criminal Case, They Defended Gumrukcu To A Turkish Court, Calling Him a “Rare Genius” With “Tremendous Potential to Advance Science” In Glowing References

Enochian’s Top Executives Never Disclosed The Active Criminal Case To Investors

Enochian has not disclosed these prior, yet ongoing, criminal legal proceedings against its inventor and co-founder in Turkey despite top executives apparently being aware of them.

Turkish court documents show that character references describing Gumrukcu as a “rare genius” were provided by Enochian CEO Dr. Mark Dybul, who took over leadership of the company as executive vice-chairman from January 2019 before becoming CEO in July 2021.

“Dr. Gumrukcu…is a rare genius who has a tremendous potential to advance science and human development in a historical way. (…) It is not an overstatement to say he might be the most productive and impactful scientist in generations.”

Dybul went on to write that Gumrukcu, who now stands accused of plotting the murder of a father of 6, is “deeply compassionate, empathetic and approachable” whose “science emanates from his deep commitment to serve people”.

Dr. Carol L. Brosgart provided another character reference to the Turkish High Criminal Court. Dr. Brosgart has served as a Senior Advisor on Science and Policy for the CDC since 2011, in addition to her roles as director on Enochian’s board since December 2019 and member of Enochian’s HBV scientific advisory board. In her recommendation to the Turkish criminal court, she wrote:

“As a country we will benefit from his (Gumrukcu´s) contributions to science and medicine. And, his work could potentially offer cures to hundreds of millions of individuals living with HIV and HBV globally…I feel so fortunate to be able to work with Dr. Gumrukcu as both a colleague and a friend.”

In a phone call, Dr. Brosgart refused to explain why she failed to publicly disclose the prosecution against the Enochian co-founder and inventor and why she provided a glowing character reference in his undisclosed criminal case.

Part 2: After Evading Turkish Authorities, Gumrukcu Continued Posing as a Doctor and Peddling Cancer Concoctions in the U.S.

August 2015 – Gumrukcu Charged A Pennsylvania Family $59,100 To Treat A Dying Child With Unapproved Substances, Despite Not Being Licensed To Practice Medicine

The Family Sent Him Another $253,000 For More “Treatments” But The Child Died Before Gumrukcu Could Visit Again – He Refused To Return The Money Until The Family Sued Him

By 2015, Gumrukcu had relocated to the United States and continued to treat terminally ill patients with unapproved substances.

According to court records, a Pennsylvania family paid him over a quarter of a million dollars to treat their dying son with some of the very same substances that he used to treat the cancer patient in Turkey, including mistletoe and B-17.

The family would later sue Gumrukcu for breach of contract. Documents from the court case show unequivocally that Gumrukcu “engaged in the profession of medicine.”

As described in the court documents, from August to September 2015, Gumrukcu visited the family’s home 11 times to treat the son with B-17, imports of which were banned by the FDA in 1987, and mistletoe, which has been used as an alternative cancer therapy in the past but is currently not approved by the FDA.

During his visits, he also injected the boy’s mother with over 100 “stem cell shots” and performed leech therapy on various parts of her body, which he claimed would help alleviate symptoms brought on by her Lyme disease and diabetes.

The family paid Gumrukcu an initial $59,100. After that, he convinced the family to wire him an additional $253,000 for more treatments.

Unfortunately, those treatments never took place, as the son passed away on December 18th, 2015.

When the grieving family tried to recover the advance payment of $253,000, Gumrukcu claimed on at least three separate occasions that he would “promptly return the $253,000,” however, the family’s lawyers claimedthose promises were “false, intentionally false, and were never honored by the defendant.”

The family sued and won, as their case and the judgment of $253,000 was eventually satisfied in August of 2015.

“Preying” On Patients “In The Worst Situation Of Their Lives”: Gumrukcu Appears To Have Also Been Practicing Medicine Without a License in California, Treating Terminally Ill Children With Unapproved Substances, Charging Desperate Parents Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars

Gumrukcu has gone on to charge hundreds of thousands of dollars to treat other terminal cancer patients, including children, at his private clinic, Seraph Medical Institute, in California – housed in the same building as Enochian.[5]

An eminent Danish oncologist, Dr. Karsten Nysom, has publicly described Gumrukcu as preying on a “patient group that is in the worst situation of their lives.”

Gumrukcu is listed as director of research at Seraph. The webpage entry also prominently lists his qualifications as M.D. and PhD.

There, he has either treated patients or been part of their medical team, even though his name is absent from the Medical Board of California’s online registry of physicians and surgeons licensed in the state.^[6]

We found multiple patients treated at Seraph and spoke to family members of some of them. In each case, the evidence demonstrates that Gumrukcu was intimately involved in the treatment – whether medical records listed him as the treating physician or not. All those cases are gathered at Appendix A, and we provide one instance below.

As this Facebook thread reveals, on or around February 23rd, 2020, Gumrukcu induced a Denmark-based family to come to his clinic in Los Angeles so that he could operate on their terminally ill son. To afford his fees, the family resorted to a Facebook fundraiser. Here is a photo of Gumrukcu with the boy.

In one of the family’s posts, they clearly state that a doctor from Turkey had already treated their son and was even going to operate on him. As far as we can see, the only Turkish “doctor” at Seraph Medical is Serhat Gumrukcu.

Gumrukcu’s treatments didn’t work for the boy, who tragically passed away less than two months later.

In the wake of Gumrukcu´s arrest on murder-for-hire conspiracy charges, we phoned Seraph Institute director, Dr. Phillip Musikanth multiple times and left multiple messages both with a secretary and on his cell phone. He failed to respond.

Part 3 – In 2017, Gumrukcu Was Arrested And Charged With 14 Felonies Over Allegations of Extensive Fraud In The United States

An Individual Involved In One Of His Fraud Schemes Was Murdered 19 Days Before Gumrukcu Was Scheduled To Appear In Court

Federal Prosecutors Now Allege The Killer Was Hired By Gumrukcu

Just over six months after fleeing Turkey, in the summer of 2014, Gumrukcu went on what appears to be a white-collar crime spree.

In February 2017, California authorities alleged Gumrukcu defrauded an individual in a home flipping scheme, kited a series of checks, and finally defrauded an escrow agent in connection with a fabricated “energy trading” deal related to “contracts with Shell Oil.”

At the time, Serhat apparently claimed to be a Turkish prince, with authorities detailing that his bank account was in the name of “HRH [his royal highness] Prince Serhat D. Gumrukcu”. [Pg. 3]

Gregory Davis, victim to one of these scams, was kidnapped from his home and murdered on January 6, 2018, just 19 days before Gumrukcu was scheduled to appear in court to defend himself against fraud allegations involving a joint-venture with Davis.

June 2014 – Gumrukcu Stole Identities And Forged Documents To Scam An Investor Out Of Nearly $1 Million

As outlined in the State of California’s arrest declaration, in 2014 Gumrukcu lured an unsuspecting overseas investor into a phony house-flipping opportunity.

Authorities alleged that Gumrukcu represented himself as an already successful house-flipper – telling the investor that with a $930,000 investment, he could buy, renovate, and sell an LA home for $1.2 million.

Using fake email addresses and forged paperwork, Gumrukcu impersonated a lawyer, escrow agency, and homeowner to falsely claim to have purchased a home for renovation. Convinced, his victim wired $930,000 to Ermes LLC, a shell entity setup by Gumrukcu to facilitate the phony joint-venture.^[7]

We spoke to a source familiar with the case, who told us that Gumrukcu and his husband Anderson Wittekind used the $930,000 to “play.”

“They bought a new Porsche…a kitchen, they put in a pool, the money that they got from this guy [Ersin Akyuz], they literally used it to play. They started traveling. They went overseas.”

As outlined in a subsequent civil lawsuit brought against Gumrukcu by the investor, the victim’s lawyers claimed that the house-flipping opportunity was a “massive fraud” that never existed, and that “Gumrukcu’s fraud went so far as to fake an eventual sale of the property.”

The victim of the scheme, Ersin Akyuz, later won a $1.78 million judgment against Gumrukcu. Gumrukcu’s home was seized and sold by the Sheriff in 2016 to cover the judgment.

April 2016 – Gumrukcu Wrote Phony Checks To Himself “With The Intent To Defraud,” Committing Second Degree Commercial Burglary, According To Prosecutors

In April 2016, shortly after the home-flipping scam came to light, Gumrukcu kited a series of checks to himself and his shell entity, Ermes LLC, defrauding