Twenty-two people were aboard the superyacht Bayesian when a powerful storm off Sicily capsized the ship and sent it to the bottom of the sea.
Eleven were guests of host Mike Lynch, a British tech tycoon who had invited them to join a cruise to celebrate his recent acquittal on fraud and conspiracy charges. Ten were members of the ship’s crew.
Fifteen people were rescued after the storm. Seven, including Lynch, did not survive.
Mike Lynch
Dubbed “Britain’s Bill Gates,” Lynch, 59, was the son of an Irish-born firefighter and a nurse who co-founded a business software company called Autonomy. In 2011, Lynch sold the company to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion.
But U.S. prosecutors accused Lynch and a colleague of padding the firm’s finances ahead of the sale. Lynch’s lawyers argued that HP was so eager to buy Autonomy that it failed to adequately check the books.
In June, a San Francisco grand jury sided with Lynch and acquitted him and Autonomy’s vice president for finance, Stephen Chamberlain, of all charges.
Hannah Lynch
Hannah Lynch, 18, one of Lynch’s two daughters, attended the private and prestigious Latymer Upper School in the Hammersmith section of London and had recently earned a spot at Oxford University, where she was supposed to study English.
“We are all incredibly shocked by the news that Hannah and her father are among those missing in this tragic incident and our thoughts are with their family and everyone involved as we await further updates,” her school said in a statement.
Jonathan Bloomer
Bloomer, 70, chairman of Morgan Stanley International and the British insurance firm Hiscox, was a former banker who had been a director at Autonomy and testified in defense of Lynch at his trial.
Judy Bloomer
Bloomer’s wife, Judy Bloomer, 71, had been a board member of The Eve Appeal, a British charity that funds research into gynecological cancers.
Bloomer, according to the charity, was a “brilliant champion for women’s health and medical research … an incredible supporter, committee member, and trustee of our charity for over 20 years.”
Christopher Morvillo
Morvillo, 59, a well-known New York City defense attorney and a married father of two, was part of the legal team that successfully defended Lynch.
Morvillo, a partner at the Clifford Chance law firm, was a federal prosecutor in New York City from 1999 to 2005, when, among other things, he assisted in the criminal investigations in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to his work biography.
After the successful defense of Lynch, Morvillo posted a thank you to his colleagues on the firm’s LinkedIn site. He also made a point of thanking his “patient and incredible wife,” Neda Morvillo, and their two daughters, Sabrina and Sophia. He closed the post saying he was “so glad to be home.”
“And they all lived happily ever after….” he wrote.
Neda Morvillo
Neda Morvillo, 57, Christopher Morvillo’s wife, was a jewelry designer and mother of two who ran her own business in Manhattan called Neda Nassiri.
Recaldo Thomas
Thomas, a Canadian Antiguan national, was the ship’s cook. His body was found Monday.
