Mike Lynch was found not guilty of federal theft charges in June. The charges were related to the sale of his data-analysis company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion. This was good news for the British tech mogul and those who supported him.
But in the past week, Lynch, who was sometimes called the “Bill Gates of Britain,” and a number of other important people in the case have died.
After a storm off the coast of Sicily on Monday, Lynch, his defense lawyer, and a former member of the Autonomy board who appeared in Lynch’s defense went missing. They were on a superyacht.
A former Autonomy executive named Stephen Chamberlain was killed two days earlier when he was hit by a car while running in England. He was Lynch’s co-defendant in the case. In June, Chamberlain was also found not guilty.
Tuesday, rescue workers continued their search for the six people who went missing after the 160-foot boat Bayesian sank. The yacht had one of the tallest masts in the world. If you remember, the ship went down early Monday morning and 15 other people were saved. The body of one crew member, the cook, has been found.
Corporate records show that the ship was registered to a company on the Isle of Man. Angela Bacares, Lynch’s wife, is a director for that business. She was one of the people saved.
Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Jonathan Bloomer, a board member at Morgan Stanley International and at London-listed insurance Hiscox, along with his wife Judy Bloomer and their son Christopher Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo, are said to be missing.
Before Autonomy was sold to HP in 2011, Jonathan Bloomer was on the board of the company. Earlier this year, Bloomer testified on Lynch’s behalf in his fraud trial, which was held in San Francisco by federal investigators.
“This terrible event has deeply shocked and saddened us,” Aki Hussain, CEO of Hiscox, said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected, especially our chair, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife Judy, who are among the missing. They and their family are ready for more news from this terrible event.”
Morvillo was a partner at the law company Clifford Chance in New York. He was Lynch’s co-lead defense lawyer and a big reason why he won in court.
Someone from Clifford Chance said that the company was “shocked and deeply saddened.”
“Our thoughts are with our partner Christopher Morvillo and his wife Neda,” the spokesperson said. “They are among the missing.”
When Lynch sold his company to HP in 2011, Chamberlain was in charge of finances at Autonomy and was also charged with fraud. Lynch was accused of financial mistakes during the sale of his business.
After the agreement, the deal fell through quickly, and HP’s CEO was fired months after the sale. HP wrote down the value of Autonomy by $8.8 billion in just 18 months, saying that the sale was based on “outright misrepresentations” and financial problems.
Soon after, HP filed a legal suit and won part of the case in 2022. Damages have not been decided by a judge yet. During that time, HP split into two separate businesses. The company that filed the case, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Co. HPE -0.61%, wants $4 billion in damages.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise said in a statement that they were “saddened to hear about this tragedy” and that their thoughts were with the families of all those who were reported missing. They did not say anything about the ongoing legal processes, though.
