Serhat Gumrukcu claimed he had discovered the cure for HIV. 

A California scientist and former magician who claimed he had discovered the cure for HIV has been found guilty of orchestrating the murder of a business rival who was found dead in a Vermont snowbank in 2018. 

Seven years ago, Turkish national Serhat Gumrukcu, 42, of Los Angeles, was negotiating a multimillion-dollar biotech merger built off his work on a supposed HIV cure. The deal was put in jeopardy by a former business partner named Gregory Davis, 49, who had threatened to bring legal action against Gumrukcu for fraudulent activities relating to a previous failed oil commodities deal, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release last week.

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Gumrukcu, a magician-turned-scientist who admitted to buying his medical degree from a Russian university, lived in a Hollywood mansion and partied with Oscar winners and movie producers, according to VTDigger. He stood to make millions from the merger........

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