Those still missing after a luxury yacht went down during a storm off the Sicilian coast include a prominent New York attorney, the chair of Morgan Stanley International and a man nicknamed “Britain’s Bill Gates.”
British technology magnate Mike Lynch was celebrating his recent acquittal in one of Silicon Valley’s largest-ever fraud cases when his 184-foot mega yacht, nicknamed the “Bayesian,” was struck by a waterspout off Porticello, near Palermo, on Monday around 4 a.m. It was was carrying a crew of 10 people and 12 passengers when it sank.
Since then, one person was found dead while another 15 were rescued.
Getty
British technology magnate Mike Lynch remains missing after his 184-foot mega yacht sank in Sicily. (Getty)
On Tuesday, divers resumed the search for Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, as well as the four others still missing in the freak accident.
Lynch, who has an estimated net worth of a $1 billion, struck it big when he sold his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion in 2011. The technology was developed in 1996 as a means to comb through emails and other internal business documents to help companies find vital information more quickly. It also earned him one of the U.K’s highest honors, the Office of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2006.
While the pricey deal seemed set to cement Lynch as a fixture in Silicon Valley, it quickly crumbled over accusations that he cooked the books to make the sale happen. The allegations culminated in a decades-long legal battle that saw Lynch extradited to the United States to face criminal charges for allegedly masterminding a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme.
He stood trial alongside Stephen Chamberlain, who served as the company’s vice president of finance. In a coincidence of unfortunate events, Chamberlain was hit and killed by a car over the weekend while he was out for a jog in Cambridgeshire, England, his lawyer Gary Lincenberg told CNN. They both had faced the same 15 charges, one count of conspiracy and 14 counts of wire fraud.
Both men were cleared of all wrongdoing in June, and Lynch vowed to return to the U.K. and explore new ways to innovate and create. He was reportedly aboard the Bayesian celebrating his acquittal with his friends, family and legal team, including Clifford Chance attorney Christopher Morvillo, when the yacht went down.
Photo by Vincenzo Pepe/Getty Images
A carabinieri vehicle parked near the harbor where search continues for missing passengers after a yacht capsized off the coast of Palermo, Sicily. (Photo by Vincenzo Pepe/Getty Images)
Morvillo and his wife, Neda, were also still missing Tuesday.
Morvillo was regarded as an elite defense lawyer and was also a federal prosecutor in New York after 9/11. He served in the position until 2005.
“We are in shock and deeply saddened by this tragic incident,” a Clifford Chance spokesperson said in a statement, which also requested privacy on behalf of those involved in the tragedy.
“Our thoughts are with our partner, Christopher Morvillo, and his wife Neda who are among the missing,” it continued. “Our utmost priority is providing support to the family as well as our colleague Ayla Ronald, who together with her partner, thankfully survived the incident.”
Divers were additionally searching for Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy.
Bloomer is the former head of the Autonomy audit committee and testified for the defense at Lynch’s trial. He was also chair of the Hiscox Group, an insurer that does business on the Lloyd’s of London market.
“Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular the Bloomer family, as we all wait for further news from this terrible situation,” a spokesperson for Morgan Stanley told Financial News.
Authorities believe all six of the people still missing were trapped in the hull of the mega yacht when it was struck by a sudden storm.
With News Wire Services
Originally Published:
