Vermont
3rd of 4 men arraigned in Vermont murder-for-hire case
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A Las Vegas man pleaded not responsible on Friday to fees of serving to prepare the 2018 kidnapping and homicide of a Vermont man that grew out of a monetary dispute.
Berk Eratay, 35, is the third of 4 males to be arraigned within the crime.
He and Serhat Gumrukcu, 39, the co-founder of a Los Angeles-based biotechnology firm, had been arrested in Might on fees of conspiring to make use of interstate commerce services within the fee of the murder-for-hire that resulted within the loss of life of Gregory Davis of Danville.
Prosecutors say Davis had been threatening to go to the FBI with info that Gumrukcu was defrauding him in a multimillion-dollar oil deal that Gumrukcu and his brother had entered into with Davis in 2015.
Davis was kidnapped from his Danville dwelling on Jan. 6, 2018, and located shot to loss of life in a snowbank the following day.
Prosecutors say Aron Lee Ethridge, 42, of Henderson, Nevada, organized for Jerry Banks, 34, of Fort Garland, Colorado, to kidnap after which kill Davis. Banks allegedly known as Ethridge the day after the kidnapping to tell him that Davis had been efficiently kidnapped and killed.
Eratay is alleged to have paid Ethridge greater than $110,000 — a few of which was paid to Banks — based on courtroom paperwork. After Davis’ loss of life, Eratay allegedly offered Ethridge with an extra fee in bitcoin.
Ethridge pleaded responsible final week for his function in serving to to rearrange the kidnapping and homicide of Davis.
Eratay, who was extradited from Nevada and has twin citizenship within the U.S. and Turkey, arrived in Vermont on Thursday to face fees. Gumrukcu is in custody and has not but been arraigned.
Banks has solely been charged with kidnapping, however prosecutors allege he killed Davis. He has pleaded not responsible and is being held pending trial.