The 'Bayesian' Yacht Owner Is Missing After a Tornado Sank the Luxury Vessel
Mike has been referred to as "Britain’s version of Bill Gates."
Published Aug. 20 2024, 10:18 a.m. ET
The 184-foot luxury yacht called The Bayesian sank off the coast of Palermo, Italy on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. Per CNN, six passengers are still missing at the time of writing — the original manifest included 22 people on board.
It's being reported that 15 people were rescued, and one passenger died. One of the missing is Mike Lynch, a tech entrepreneur whose wife's firm, Revcom, technically owns the superyacht. Mike has a very interesting past, which involves one of the biggest fraud cases in Silicon Valley history.
Read on for details.
So, who is Mike Lynch, the 'Bayesian' yacht owner who is missing?
According to The Washington Post, Mike is not accounted for after The Bayesian sank near Sicily in what's being called a "freak storm." Reportedly, the yacht's mast broke due to high winds, and the huge vessel sank.
The unthinkable accident resulted in Mike's 18-year-old daughter Hannah also being missing.
His wife, Angela Bacares, was reportedly rescued.
Per the outlet, Mike has been referred to as "Britain’s version of Bill Gates." His company, Autonomy, sold to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion over a decade ago.
But as AP News reports, that mega-deal soured when Mike was accused of falsifying documents leading up to the sale of Autonomy. A multi-year court case ensued, with Mike eventually being cleared of charges in the United States. Still, per the outlet, he was not done dealing with a civil case in his native Britain at the time of the yacht accident.
Mike Lynch's co-defendant was killed the same week the 'Bayesian' sank.
In a turn of events worthy of a movie, Mike's co-defendant in the case against him died on Saturday, just a few days before The Bayesian plummeted to 160 feet below the surface of the sea.
Stephen Chamberlain, who was killed by a car while jogging in England, was the former vice-president of finance for Autonomy, per The Guardian. He was initially placed on life support but later died.
Given the incredibly coincidental nature of the two awful tragedies, of course, conspiracy theories are cropping up on social media.
Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that Christopher Morvillo, the lawyer who helped clear the men of charges in the U.S., is among those missing after The Bayesian sank, per the New York Post.
Two months before going missing, Christopher oddly posted to LinkedIn for the first time.
"Following the jury's swift exoneration of our client, Mike Lynch, and his colleague, Steven Chamberlain, last week in San Francisco, I finally have something to say that I would like others to hear," he wrote in part.
After thanking many people who helped win the case, he finished the post by writing, "A huge thank you to my patient and incredible wife, Neda Morvillo, and my two strong, brilliant, and beautiful daughters, Sabrina Morvillo and Sophia Morvillo. None of this would have been possible without your love and support. I am so glad to be home. And they all lived happily ever after…."
