Il tycoon Lynch e il naufragio

Holiday turned into tragedy

Here are Mike Lynch's guests on the wrecked yacht: a drama involving international finance and personal tragedies

Still missing, in addition to the British tycoon, are Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley Bank International and his wife; Lynch's attorney Chris Morvillo of Clifford Chance and his wife; Hannah, Lynch's 18-year-old daughter

20 August 2024

Palermo, tra i dispersi dello yacht affondato anche il tycoon Mike Lynch

2' min read

LONDON - The tragedy off the coast of Sicily also affects international finance. In addition to entrepreneur Mike Lynch, officially missing after the sinking of his yacht Bayesian, also missing are Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley Bank International, with his wife; Lynch's attorney Chris Morvillo of Clifford Chance with his wife; and Hannah, Lynch's 18-year-old daughter.

In a sinister coincidence, it has been confirmed that, thousands of miles away, Stephen Chamberlain, Lynch's right-hand man for many years, has died. The former chief financial officer of Autonomy, the software company founded by the British entrepreneur, was hit by a car on Saturday while jogging in the village of Stretham in Cambridgeshire, the area of England where he lived.

Per approfondire

Morto in un incidente stradale anche l’ex coimputato di Lynch, Stephen Chamberlain

Chamberlain era stato vicepresidente finanziario di Autonomy insieme all’amministratore delegato Lynch, scomparso con il suo yacht lunedì al largo della Sicilia

The car that hit him did not stop at the scene of the accident and the police launched an appeal for possible witnesses to the mysterious accident. Gary Lincenberg, Chamberlain's lawyer who confirmed his death, said that "he was a man of integrity who fought long and successfully to protect his reputation".

The holiday to celebrate absolution

The fifteen survivors of the Bayesian shipwreck, including Angela Bacares, Lynch's wife, confirmed that the boat holiday had been organised to celebrate the full acquittal of Lynch and Chamberlain, who had both been exonerated of fraud and false accounting charges by the San Francisco court in June.

Il naufragio dello yacht al largo della Sicilia
Photogallery28 foto

In 2011, Lynch had sold Autonomy, the computer company he founded in 1996, to Hewlett Packard for $11.1 billion, turning from a tech genius into one of the richest men in England. Less than a year later, however, the American giant had sued Lynch and Chamberlain, accusing them of inflating the company's value and rigging the accounts.

A 13-year long legal battle

After thirteen years of legal battles, extradition to the United States and a year under house arrest in San Francisco, the trial had resoundingly ended with the full acquittal of both defendants. To celebrate his newfound freedom and to thank his legal team, Lynch had invited the lawyers on his yacht, together with colleagues from his new venture capital firm, Invoke Capital, and Bloomer, one of his oldest friends and supporters.

Barca affondata, proseguite nella notte le ricerche dei 6 dispersi

The 70-year-old Bloomer, a British citizen, had been a prominent figure in the City for decades: besides being chairman of Morgan Stanley International, he was also chairman of the insurance company Hiscox.

Attorney Morvillo's skill at Clifford Chance and his colleagues had been instrumental in convincing the jury of Lynch and Chamberlain's innocence. Morvillo, prior to becoming a partner at Clifford Chance, had worked as an attorney for the District of New York and had also been involved in the investigation of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York in September 2001.

Lynch himself in June, after the acquittal, had expressed his relief but also his debt to the lawyers. 'I won the case not only because I am innocent but also because I am rich,' he said in an interview with the BBC. 'I was able to afford the best lawyers.