Tech guru among 7 dead in superyacht sinking

Writer: | Editor: Jiang Liye | From: | Updated: 2024-08-27

Mike Lynch, a 59-year-old British tech entrepreneur, was among the seven people who died after a 56-meter superyacht sank off the coast of Italy’s Sicily last Monday.

The Bayesian was allegedly hit by a tornado and sunk in just 12 minutes.

It is believed that a “major ingress” of water from the top down would have caused the sinking, according to a captain who wishes to remain anonymous. This is based on the fact that no breaches have been reported in the yacht’s hull, and the fact that the yacht should have been able to remain afloat with two flooded compartments.

The dead also included Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Morgan Stanley’s U.K. chief Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, London-based lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda, as well as the yacht’s chef Recaldo Thomas.

The yacht was being used to celebrate Lynch’s recent victory in a 13-year fraud acquittal. Bloomer was a defense witness in Lynch’s San Francisco trial and Morvillo was Lynch’s lawyer.

Prosecutors confirmed Saturday they are in the early stages of investigating a “crime hypothesis” of culpable shipwreck and manslaughter.

Lynch garnered much of his wealth from cofounding Autonomy, a tech company purchased by Hewlett-Packard, or HP, for US$11 billion in 2011. An attorney for Lynch recently revealed that the entrepreneur’s total worth is around US$450 million.

The Autonomy sale was one of the biggest British tech deals at the time but quickly went sour, with HP writing down Autonomy’s value by US$8.8 billion within a year. The Autonomy acquisition was meant to fuel HP’s software business. Instead, the blockbuster sale has been bogged down by legal problems that recently culminated with a fraud trial.

Prosecutors accused Lynch and former Autonomy finance executive Stephen Chamberlain of scheming to inflate Autonomy’s revenue before selling to HP. In June, Lynch was acquitted on 15 charges — one count of conspiracy and 14 counts of wire fraud — in a San Francisco court.

Autonomy, founded in 1996, became Britain’s biggest software company and a member of the blue-chip FTSE 100 index. Lynch was lauded at the time by academics and scientists and was asked to advise the British government on technology and innovation.

The Bayesian is linked to his wife Angela Bacares, who was among those rescued. Ownership records show that the yacht is owned by the Isle of Man-registered Revtom Limited, a company owned by his wife. (SD-Agencies)

上周一，一艘 56米长的超级游艇在意大利西西里岛附近海面沉没，造成7人死亡，其中包括59岁的英国科技大亨迈克•林奇。

据称，贝叶斯号遭遇龙卷风袭击，在短短12分钟内沉没。

据一位不愿透露姓名的船长称，沉没的原因可能是从船舱上面“大量进水”，因为游艇船体没有任何破损，而且即使两个船舱进水，这艘游艇也不会沉。

死者还包括林奇18岁的女儿汉娜、摩根士丹利英国分部主席乔纳森•布鲁默和他的妻子朱迪、伦敦律师克里斯•莫维洛和他的妻子内达，以及游艇的厨师雷卡多•托马斯。

游艇是用来开庆祝派对的；林奇最近赢了一起长达13年的诈骗案，获无罪释放。布鲁默是林奇在旧金山受审时的辩方证人，莫维洛是他的律师。

检方周六证实，他们正展开调查，不排除有人故意沉船、涉嫌过失杀人，但一切还是“假定”。

林奇的大部分财富来自于他与他人共同创办的Autonomy 科技公司，该公司被惠普公司于2011年作价110亿美元收购。林奇的一位律师最近透露，他的身家约为4.5亿美元。

出售Autonomy是当时英国最大的科技交易之一，但事情很快变了味，惠普在一年内将该公司的价值减记了88亿美元。收购原本是为了推动惠普的软件业务，然而这笔巨额交易却陷入法律争端，最近的诈骗案审判更是将故事推向高潮。

检察官指控林奇和Autonomy前财务主管斯蒂芬•张伯伦在出售公司前蓄意夸大收入。今年6月，林奇在旧金山法院面临15项指控，包括1项共谋罪和14项电信诈骗，但林奇成功脱罪。

Autonomy成立于1996年，后成为英国最大的软件公司并被纳入蓝筹富时100指数。林奇当时获学术界盛赞，并受邀向英国政府提供技术创新方面的建议。

贝叶斯号注册在林奇妻子安吉拉•巴卡雷斯名下，她也在游艇上，但成功获救。所有权记录显示这艘游艇为马恩岛注册的Revtom公司所有，公司老板是巴卡雷斯。(Translated by Debra)

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