Bad Magic | The Man in the Linen Pants | S4-E1

It was late on a freezing Saturday night in northern Vermont. Greg Davis was in his bedroom with his wife Melissa when they heard someone outside.

Well, good afternoon everyone. It is truly my great pleasure to welcome Enochian Biosciences.

Less than a year after Greg Davis body was found in the Vermont snow, the CEO of an emerging biotech company stood at a sleek white lectern in Times Square.

The very first time I met René Sinleve, our chairman, he told me, we'll be a Nasdaq-listed company.

Enochian Biosciences now traded alongside tech giants like Apple and Microsoft, but the CEO wasn't taking the credit. The success of the company was largely thanks to a man who was standing just off stage, the man with the ideas that drove Enochian Biosciences to its $600 million valuation. A man with short dyed blonde hair, stubble and an impish smile.

The very first time I met Serab Gumruku, our scientific founder, he told me, We'll be the company that will put an end to HIV-Aids.

Dr. Serab Gumruku At just 36 years old, Dr. Serab was leading a mission to end HIV-Aids forever. He was also working on cures for cancer, hepatitis B, and a host of other diseases.

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From Wondery, I'm Laura Beal and this is the fourth season of Dr. Death Bad Magic.

I think he still had like makeup on from doing some drag event or something, and like, you know, he just like, sat down next to me.

Zebariah Newman and Jeffrey had been friends for a few years. Jeffrey was known in the tight-knit gay community of Los Angeles for his drag alter ego.

He has this character, Lotta Slots, who is a drag queen that is from Vegas and has won the best in drag competition show. Like, he's got a short bob, he's got like mascara running down his face, he might be a little drunk. Definitely telling you the tea on the family.

He'd been dressed as Lotta Slots at an earlier charity event, and Zeb was glad to run into him.

I'm a former smoker. Smoking was one of the greatest loves of my life. And Jeffrey still smokes, and so anytime I'm around him, I just want to smell the secondhand smoke.

As the cigarette smoke curled around them in the desert air, they caught up with each other. Both of them worked in the entertainment industry, Zeb as a TV producer on Late-night TV, and Jeffrey as a casting director. But it was a piece of personal news from Jeffrey that caught Zeb's attention.

He just casually mentioned that he was going to participate in this, as he called it like an underground, secret HIV cure trial.

Zeb knew that Jeffrey was HIV positive, had been first diagnosed in 1987 and had been on medication for many years. But this underground secret trial was something new.

And, you know, Jeffrey was just very flippant about it. I'm going to help try to cure HIV. I'm going to take the next few weeks or month off and I will maybe get sick, maybe I won't get sick. And you know, maybe they'll find a cure.

There were risks Jeffrey would go off his regular meds for the trial, which meant that if it didn't work, there was a chance his HIV infection could develop into AIDs. But he didn't seem to care. He was ready for a cure to HIV, not more meds. He'd been on over 50 different treatments since he was diagnosed.

Jeffrey is from a generation of men that literally lost so much. I mean, the trauma from those years in the 80s and 90s is still very much alive. He's just he's 24-7 hooked into helping people. And I think that that is a direct manifestation of watching all of his friends die and his lovers die, and being devastated by that.

So that was why Jeffrey was willing to sign up for such an experimental treatment. This wasn't a clinical trial being run by a flagship university or a well-known drug company. Instead, it was linked to a doctor named Serhat Gemrupcu. He was carrying out the testing in a private clinic. While a new biotech business he'd co-founded, Enochian, held the rights to the treatment.

It wasn't like some anonymous nurse, some anonymous doctor, that none of us knew. Like, I don't know Dr. Serhat, but everyone I know knows him.

Serhat was often out at parties and sometimes hosted big ones of his own. ZEB had also heard about patients The doctor had really helped.

I was at a dinner party and suddenly his name came up because he helped someone's father live like six or nine months longer than he was supposed to.

It was clear to ZEB that Jeffrey was really excited about the possibilities of this treatment, and ZEB, well, he was a TV producer and he knew a good story. When he saw one, Jeffrey was risking his own health to find a cure. A cure that, if it worked, could replace the expensive medical cocktails that HIV patients had to accept as the price to stay alive.

And I just said to him, Can I film this?

Jeffrey didn't even blink.

Oh, he was 100 in from the very beginning. It was playful, hopeful. Our intentions were really pure. Neither one of us really had any idea what this would turn into.

To really follow Jeffrey's journey, ZeB also needed to talk to the people running the trial.

And so very naively, I was like, let me just call the office and see if I can talk to someone.

So Zeb calls and asks.

Can you help me get a meeting with Serhat? I'm filming Jeffrey. And I remember it was at that moment that all of these sort of like sirens went off. Like they didn't put a stop to it right away, but they were incredibly cautious.

They told him Dr. Serhat would not be giving an interview. That wasn't necessarily unusual. Zeb figured the doctor could just be busy. But they also wanted to set another ground rule.

There was such a clear and like, do not cross this line that was being messaged to us to me, do not cross this line, do not name him, do not involve him.

That gave Zeb pause.

I wasn't even allowed to film him giving himself shots, they said. You can't film him putting a needle in his body, you can't film him at an office.

Zeb couldn't understand why Serhat wanted to stay so anonymous, but even without him, he still thought Jeffrey's story was worth telling.

The other thing is like, I didn't want to get sued, you know, like that's the absolute last thing I wanted to deal with was like a lawsuit from these people.

Zeb came up with a different plan to follow Jeffrey's journey. On the nights. After Jeffrey was done, Zeb would head over to his friend's house to hear what happened.

I'm getting the recap from Jeffrey what had happened during the day, and Jeffrey's telling me about the different nurses. He's talking to, the visits, the shots that he's having.

But Zeb wasn't expecting what came next.

Very quickly, he just got super, super sick.

For the first part of the trial, Jeffrey had stopped taking his anti-HIV drugs and started chemotherapy.

And it scared me, I just did not. Even I had never seen someone be super sick from something like this. I had never witnessed the absolute, total devastation on a human body from this type of experiment.

Zeb wasn't a doctor and he didn't have access to his friend's medical records, but he could see how sick he was getting. Still, Jeffrey told ZEB he was determined to keep going.

My commitment to this trial, it, yeah, it's worth it, is worth dying for.

The thinking behind the treatment, at least as they understood it, was that first, the chemo would weaken his immune system, which would then allow cells transplanted from an HIV-negative donor to go in and attack the virus.

I wanted their help, these guys were sort of like the grandfathers of the HIV movement, and I wanted their validation.

ZEB spoke to the head of the organization.

And I'm like, I'm making a movie and it's about an underground secret cure trial, and he literally says to me, What is the name of the company that's doing this underground cure trial?

ZEB thought this new treatment was a way of fighting against exploitation of people with HIV. And now this person was telling him that it just might be the opposite. By the way, we should say that the nonprofit director didn't want to comment for this story.

I was so thrown by being yelled at by this guy that I was like hoping that he was going to help me. And instead, he was like, totally burying me and like accusing me of just awful things. It really shook me.

Here, he was trying to tell Jeffrey's story and was being told that the whole thing might be taking advantage of his friend.

And suddenly, other people that I was talking to at the time started to pull away. It quickly turned into this like, ZEB is part of the problem, this project is part of the problem. And I was embarrassed, God, I was so embarrassed.

But then Zeb got angry, he made a decision.

At that point, I was like, You know what, I'm not here to protect you, and I'm not protecting these nonprofit HIV guys in New York. I'm here to tell Jeffrey's story and everyone.

He kept his head down and focused on telling the story of his friend. But the film was about to take them to places neither he nor his critics ever expected.

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Jeffrey Drew continued the experimental trial, and on many nights, his friend Zeb would come over to film Jeffrey at his home in Beachwood Canyon. The Hollywood sign looming on the hills above them.

You know, Jeffrey is not a rich man, he grew up in the AIDS crisis and did not plan for the future. So he does not live his life with, like, a lot of savings. Or, you know, plans for what he's going to do when he's 65. Because he just, you know, he'll say he did not believe he would make it to that point.

Jeffrey even had to stop working so he had no source of income. It seemed to Zeb that his friend was sacrificing everything for this trial.

We are seeing on Facebook these trips, places like Puerto Rico, Chicago, New York, even Las Vegas. And, you know, to them, they're posting like these expensive dinners and flying private and fancy hotels and beaches, and they are just showcasing their life of extravagance.

On Instagram, his handle was Doc Serhat, while his account was peppered with stock images of Serhat wearing his white lab coat. It seemed like medicine was only one part of this man's life. There were photos of Serhat on a yacht, Serhat with the singer boy George in 2021, Serhat with Helen Mirren.

There was a photo of him on Facebook that he had these braids that were like down to his ass. That seemed like a burning man leftover, just like someone who was still, you know, hanging out at Burning Man. Like three months later. Like, that's how he was kind of presenting himself, but then he's also like a major scientist.

And then, day by day, Jeffrey began to feel better and better. Soon he was back to feeling like himself, and that continued for months and months. The treatment seemed to be working as they'd hoped.

And at that time, he was not on any antiviral, he was not on any HIV medication, he was testing negative, he was undetectable, so we were not saying he was cured.

We have not been able to verify Jeffrey's test results, but another source close to him confirmed ZEb's account. It seemed like the experimental treatment was working, and it had all been captured on film.

I remember there was a nurse there, a woman who was so excited to watch the movie. I take my laptop, they hook it up to some wire, and it's playing on a big screen TV in a conference room.

Zeb pressed play and they all watched the film in silence.

Between the chills and the fever and throwing up and everything else, just saying, What have I done? Is it worth me dying for this? About how many dollars do you think this is worth?

Thousands, I would say. As the credits rolled, Zeb turned to see the doctor's reaction.

Dr Serhat said Can you blur the numbers on the door?

There'd been one scene which showed the outside of his offices and the door number.

And I was like, Yeah, totally.

And that was that the meeting was over. Serhat didn't have any other feedback. He didn't seem concerned that he was passing up the chance to be seen as a hero in this life-saving discovery. His only concern was keeping his address out of it.

She is a talented actress, producer, Oscar winner. You know, from the help, hidden figures, the shape of water and so much more. The absolute dynamite that is Octavia Spencer is here tonight.

On December 1st, 2021, the actress Octavia Spencer appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden.

Well, it was. It follows the story of Jeffrey Drew, who tested positive for HIV nearly 30 years ago.

Octavia had been so moved that she asked to be a part of it.

He decides that he was done taking all the medications and he wanted to help find a cure. And he took part in a very dangerous experiment to try to find that cure. And we think he just might be the very first person to be cured of HIV AidS.

So, to be clear, a very small number of people had already been cured of HIV AIDs before this, but only after extensive bone marrow transplants. Jeffrey's treatment, if it ended up getting through clinical trials, would be available to many more people.

I'm really grateful we got to be a part of Jeffrey Drew's story.

It's getting Oscar buzz already, so congratulations to you on that. And Katy Perry, Katy Perry.

Yeah, it's fantastic.

Zeb was pinching himself his no budget short film, that he'd done on a whim, was getting noticed by some big people.

You know, it won some big awards, it got Oscar qualified, like Jeffrey and I were doing these like Oscars, Zoom q&a things. The film got licensed by Peacock. This is also my first film.

Zeb felt like Jeffrey was finally getting his due for all the sacrifices he'd made. He loved going to screenings, he loved giving back to his community. It was like something out of a movie.

So who's wearing our fancy lab coat today? Dr. Surhat? He's the co-founder of Enochian Biosciences, a biotech company.

Around this time, the secretive man behind the trial did give an extensive interview, but it wasn't to ZEB.

He's M.D. and his P.h.D. in genetics from Moscow State and Rudin University and is focused on.

Guy Rocken and his co-host, Ali Dashti, welcomed Surhat into their tiny recording studio in east Hollywood. Ali was excited for his guest. Their podcast. The Fancy Lab Coat Guild was pretty new, and Ali was still working on his P.h.D. So landing someone with Surhat's pedigree seemed like kind of a big deal.

And he comes out of his car and he is wearing these linen-y Harem pants and this other linen-y shirt. Or like a t-shirt of some kind. And out of the car comes this bodyguard who's just kind of silent.

Guy showed him to the recording room and offered him some water.

He arrived to the studio, took his shoes off and just crossed his legs on the chair and sat without his shoes.

And he looks like a yoga instructor, he's dressed like a guru.

Then we realized that, Wow, this person, he's just not a regular scientist. So surhat, I want to start by asking you, How really are you today?

I am amazing.

Why are you amazing?

Why am I amazing? Well, I mean, it's life you have to appreciate every single moment you're in. It's my attitude of gratitude.

As the interview went on, Dr Surhat told them he spoke nine languages.

Turkish, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, a little bit of English, Russian, I'm conversant in Arabic and I can get by in Hebrew.

Oh my god, oh wow.

He talked about his photographic memory.

It's more than photographic. I remember dates and conversations, I mean, pretty much everything. It's not an instant thing.

And how he had come up with his treatment for HIV.

When I met Tony Fauci first time, I explained him the mechanism of my treatment and it took ten minutes for him to understand. Of course. And his first question was like, How old are you again?

I was in awe with the way he was speaking. I'm like a scientist in training, still working on my P.h.D. In front of me is this guy who has this enormous CV, made millions out of it and talks about science being art. And I'm thinking, Oh wow, I would never think about this in my lab. Serhat, thank you so much for being here.

Thank you for having me guys.

As they wrapped up, Serhat mentioned he was having a birthday party at his new house. Why don't they come? Guy and Ali were excited. It seemed like a great way to make some new contacts.

We were thinking that we're going to meet amazing people in the science realm, or like the innovation realm, you know, like, that's what I was thinking. Bill Gates, Elon Musk. It doesn't have to be scientists, just people that are very innovative.

On the day of the party, they took an Uber up to the Hollywood Hills.

There's this gate and there's like these bodyguards.

One asked them to sign a non-disclosure agreement before they were allowed in.

And then you go up this. It's like the hanging gardens of Babylon, this Babylonian spiral that takes you to the top, plants, landscaping, everything, you get to the top of this spiral. And it's this old Hollywood mansion with this beautiful pool that has views of the ocean and the city, it's spectacular.

And all the guests were following an unusual dress code.

Everybody has to wear white, it's like a white clothing party kind of thing.

The place was bustling, hundreds of people.

There's a food truck, open bar, he's bringing in some DJs, there's like some fire dancer stuff and kind of little performances like that, good music, good drinks. There's this like one room that's filled with pillows and stuff where people are just like resting because it's dark.

Guy and Ollie took it all in.

There's like, yoga instructors and engineers.

But there weren't many of the types of people Guy and Ollie were expecting at all.

Not a lot of biotech or science people, which maybe to some extent makes a bit of sense because you're in L.

But still, there was one profession that did stand out.

There's a lot of magicians, magicians. I found very weird, as a person who is a scientist, that he has so many magician friends. It's like, very odd to me because their whole job is deception, but yeah, that was weird.

At the time, guy didn't think too much of it.

He's rich, he likes eccentric things. He's not the first rich, eccentric person, you know, to do that. Some of them have different proclivities. His is magicians.

He waited for the invitation and kept circulating among the guests as the party went on into early morning. Guy kept noticing Serhat in the middle of things.

He's just dancing the whole time, he's almost kind of an introverted person, even though he is the life of the party. He just kind of looks like he's vibing with himself. And, you know, he's dancing and kind of dancing with people and not really talking that much.

Guy and Ali enjoyed the party, then went home to their less fabulous lives. They put up the episode of their podcast, which, truthfully, not many people noticed, and they'd pretty much forgotten the whole thing. Until a few months later, when Guy was at his lab.

And I get a DM, a LinkedIn message from someone who I don't know, being like, Hey, have you seen this article? Your podcast episode is referenced? And I think, Oh, cool, what is this?

It was an article by a small investment company called Hindenburg Research. its subject was Dr. Serhat.

I inhaled this article in record time. I don't think I've ever read anything faster, so many things start shattering.

We were just mind blown. Yeah, I was in shock for a day, I didn't know how to process it. My friends were like, This is insane.

Ali thought back to their interaction with Serhat, to when he was sitting cross-legged and barefoot in their studio. He thought back over all the things he'd told them. Did he really speak nine languages? was he a scientific mastermind? was he really worth millions?

Who is Serhat?

Well, I am. well, that's a difficult question to answer. Actually, who am I?

Coming up on this season of Dr. Death.

I kind of think of it like, we're like pirates, but we only rob other pirates. I just pick up the phone, boom, there he is, he just bought a Porsche and he just started having parties.

This was a person who was willing to cold-heartedly just lie to people's faces.

He pulled a gun on his head.

We believe that he died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head and torso.

From Wendry, This is episode one of five of Dr. Death Bad Magic. I'm Your host Laura Beale. This series is written by Benjamin Gray. producer is Nika Singh.