Billionaire missing in yacht crash celebrates fraud court victory after partner hit by car the day before
Billionaire Mike Lynch, who disappeared after a yacht crash in Sicily, was celebrating a court victory in a fraud case. Everyone on the boat was connected to the case in one way or another, and Mike Lynch's partner Stephen Chamberlain was hit by a car shortly before the crash.
Billionaire Mike Lynch sold his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard (HP) for £8.6 billion in 2011. Lynch made £500 million on the deal, but HP later accused him of fraud. Lynch was charged in 2018, but was acquitted in June 2024.
According to the Guardian, all the passengers on the yacht were somehow connected to Lynch or this case: for example, Jonathan Bloomer, who disappeared along with the businessman, was a witness, Chris Morvillo represented Lynch in court. In addition, on August 17, the billionaire's partner, former Autonomy top manager Stephen Chamberlain, who was a defendant in the businessman's case, was killed under the wheels of a car.
Such coincidences have given rise to conspiracy theories online that the deaths were not in fact accidental, but were staged by those who benefited from it or those who wanted revenge. Despite this, the main theory behind the crash officially remains adverse weather conditions.
According to the latest data, the sunken yacht is at a depth of 49 meters, about 800 meters from the shore. The vessel is being examined by divers, but they cannot get inside because the yacht is lying on its side, and the stairs leading to the cabins are littered with furniture and other things. So far, they have managed to find a hole in the hull.
It is noted that most likely the missing passengers died and their bodies remained inside the yacht, but there is a possibility that they managed to leave the ship. On the other hand, this probability is quite low because the yacht sank very quickly.
Recall that the yacht Bayesian, owned by the company Revtom, sank off the coast of Sicily. It is owned by Angela Baraques, the wife of British multimillionaire Mike Lynch. At the time of the sinking, there were 22 people on board, including citizens of Great Britain, the United States and Canada. Fifteen of them managed to escape. Officially, only one person is considered dead - chef Recaldo Thomas. Another six are still missing. Among them is the founder of Autonomy, Mike Lynch, who is called the "British Bill Gates", and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah. Also missing are the chairman of the board of Morgan Stanley International, Jonathan Bloomer, a lawyer at Clifford Chance, Chris Morvillo, and their wives.