Mike Lynch and others feared dead after Sicily superyacht sinking

British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and five others are feared dead with their bodies trapped on the superyacht that sank off the coast of Sicily.

The yacht, called Bayesian, sank in the early hours of Monday morning, carrying 12 passengers and 10 crew. The $14m (£10.7m) boat was hit by a storm near Palermo. While one body has been recovered, six people remain missing. The yacht is now on the seabed at a depth of 50m.

Lynch's 18-year-old daughter Hannah; Morgan Stanley International and Hiscox chairman Jonathan Bloomer; his wife Judy Bloomer; Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo; and his wife Neda Morvillo are also missing.

Fifteen of the 22 passengers and crew onboard – including Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares – were rescued after escaping onto a lifeboat. One body, reportedly belonging to the ship’s chef, was recovered at the scene.

On Thursday, Vincenzo Zagarola of the Italian coastguard said that the working theory of officials on Sicily is that the remaining six are dead with their bodies trapped on the boat is because it is believed the vessel sank quickly and search and rescue efforts by sea and air have so far delivered no results.

Asked about the likelihood of them being alive, he replied: “Never say never, but reasonably the answer should be not.”

A Morgan Stanley spokesperson said the bank was “shocked and saddened” by news that non-executive chairman Bloomer was among those missing, saying: “We are deeply shocked and saddened by this tragedy. Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular the Bloomer family, as we all wait for further news from this terrible situation.”

Meanwhile, Hiscox group chief executive Aki Hussain said: “We are deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic event. Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular our chair, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife Judy, who are among the missing, and with their family as they await further news from this terrible situation.”

Lynch is a looming figure in British business as the former CEO of Autonomy Corporation, which he founded and grew in the mid-90s. Autonomy was purchased by Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) in 2011 — an $11bn deal which led to Lynch being accused of 15 counts of fraud on US turf.

HP eventually wrote down Autonomy's value by $8.8bn after the company was accused of inflating sales and misleading investors to clinch the deal.

Read more: Who is Mike Lynch? 'UK's Bill Gates' among those missing from Sicily yacht

In June this year, he was cleared of all counts in San Francisco, after a 13-year legal tussle. Morvillo had worked on Lynch's defence. He has been a partner at magic circle law firm Clifford Chance in New York since 2011.

It was a notable victory, not only because the size of the original deal, but also because of the fact that in the US in fiscal year 2022, only 0.4% of federal criminal cases led to trial and acquittal, according to the Pew Research Center. Only 12% of all wire fraud prosecutions resulted in acquittal.

Lynch's co-defendant, Stephen Chamberlain, died after being hit by a car while out running in Cambridgeshire on Saturday.

Ahead of the trial, Lynch was extradited to the US and put under house arrest and 24-hour surveillance.

Lynch, who was awarded an OBE for services to enterprise in 2006, was later an investor of the cybersecurity unicorn Darktrace (DARK.L). He also sat on the boards of the BBC and the British Library, founded Invoke Capital VC.

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