Several people in missing tycoon’s fraud trial have met with tragedy in recent days

Mike Lynch, his lawyer and a key defence witness in his fraud case are missing after the yacht they were on sank on Monday. His co-defendant was killed after being hit by a car days earlier.

When Mike Lynch was acquitted in June of federal fraud charges stemming from the $11 billion sale of his data-analysis company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard, it marked a turn of fortune for the British tech tycoon and those who stood with him.

But in the past week, Lynch – who was often referred to as the Bill Gates of Britain – and several other people who played key roles in the case have met with tragedy.

On Monday, Lynch, along with his defence lawyer and a former Autonomy board member who testified in his defence, went missing after a superyacht they were on sank in a storm off the coast of Sicily.

Two days earlier, Stephen Chamberlain, a former Autonomy executive and Lynch’s co-defendant in the case, was killed after being hit by a car while jogging in England, his lawyer said in a statement. Chamberlain had also been acquitted in June.

Stephen Chamberlain was hit by a car while reportedly jogging. Picture: AFP.

Rescue crews continued to search Tuesday for the six passengers who remain missing following the sinking of the Bayesian, a 160-foot yacht that boasted one of the tallest masts in the world. Fifteen other people were rescued when the ship went down in the early morning hours Monday, and the body of one crew member, the ship’s chef, has been recovered.

The ship was registered to a company on the Isle of Man for which Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, serves as a director, according to corporate records. She was among those rescued.

According to authorities, the missing passengers are Lynch; his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah; Jonathan Bloomer, a board member at Morgan Stanley International and at London-listed insurer Hiscox; his wife, Judy Bloomer; New York lawyer Christopher Morvillo; and his wife, Neda Morvillo.

Jonathan Bloomer, who served on Autonomy’s board before the company was sold to HP in 2011, testified earlier this year on Lynch’s behalf during his fraud trial, which brought by federal prosecutors in San Francisco 2018.

“We are deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic event,” Aki Hussain, chief executive of Hiscox, said in a statement. “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.”

Divers return to port at Porticello near Palermo, as the search for the missing people continue. Picture: AFP.

Morvillo, who was a partner in New York for the law firm Clifford Chance, served as co-lead defence counsel for Lynch and played a key role in his victory in court.

A Clifford Chance spokesperson said the firm was “in shock and deeply saddened.”

“Our thoughts are with our partner, Christopher Morvillo, and his wife Neda who are among the missing,” the spokesperson said.

Chamberlain had been the vice president of finance at Autonomy and had also been charged in the fraud, in which Lynch had been accused of accounting irregularities as part of the sale of his company to HP in 2011.

The deal quickly foundered following the agreement, and HP’s chief executive was pushed out months after the sale. Within 18 months, HP wrote down the value of Autonomy by $8.8 billion, citing accounting problems and “outright misrepresentations” as part of the sale.

HP filed a civil suit not long after and won a partial victory in 2022. A judge has yet to rule on damages. In the interim, HP split into two companies. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (HPE), which assumed responsibility for the lawsuit, has sought $4 billion in damages.

In a statement, representatives for Hewlett Packard Enterprise said of the superyacht sinking that they were “saddened to hear about this tragedy, and our thoughts are with the loved ones of all those reported missing,” but that they had no comment on the ongoing legal proceedings.

Dow Jones