A luxury yacht sank off the coast of Sicily on Monday due to a fierce storm, killing one person and leaving six people missing, including British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his daughter. Fifteen people had escaped before the boat sank.
Here are the details about the missing passengers.
Mike Lynch and daughter Hannah
Tech entrepreneur Lynch built Britain’s biggest software company, Autonomy. Often called Britain’s Bill Gates, Lynch, 59, was praised by shareholders, scientists and politicians when he sold Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion in 2011.
But in late 2012, HP said it had found a huge accounting scandal at the business, and wrote off $8.8 billion of its value. Lynch spent the next 12 years trying to clear his name and was acquitted of all criminal charges in the United States just a few weeks ago.
Following the sale of Autonomy, Lynch founded Invoke Capital, a technology venture capital fund.
Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah is also missing. A Sunday Times profile of Lynch last month said Hannah was preparing to study English literature at Oxford University.
His wife, Angela Bacares, who owns the ship, was also aboard but was rescued.
Jonathan Bloomer and wife Judy Bloomer
Jonathan Bloomer appeared as a character witness in Lynch’s legal case earlier this year. Bloomer has been non-executive chairman of Morgan Stanley International since 2016, and is chairman of international specialist insurer Hiscox.
He was also the chief executive of the insurance and investment company Prudential from 2000 to 2005.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he studied physics at Imperial College in London in the 1970s.
A former employee of Bloomer’s wrote on LinkedIn that he “was always a friendly, approachable and charming person”.
Hiscox Chief Executive Aki Hussein said in a statement on Tuesday that he was “deeply shocked and saddened” and that his thoughts were with all those affected, particularly Bloomer and his wife, Judy, who were also on board the boat.
Judy, who studied English language and literature at Homerton College, Cambridge, has worked as a psychotherapist for almost 30 years, including specialising in anxiety and stress. She began her career as a teacher.
Christopher Morvillo and wife Neda Morvillo
American Christopher Morvillo, a partner at law firm Clifford Chance in New York City, was part of Lynch’s defense team, which waged a long legal battle to get his client acquitted. His first post on LinkedIn was to celebrate a court victory nearly two months ago.
“None of this would have been possible without your love and support,” Morvillo said in a post to his family, including his wife, Neda Morvillo.
Prior to joining Clifford Chance in November 2011, Morvillo served as Principal at Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello PC, where he advised on white-collar criminal defense and regulatory matters.
Morvillo, who studied law at Fordham University, also served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York from 1999 to 2005, assisting in criminal investigations arising from the Sept. 11 attacks.
David Oscar Marcus, a criminal defense attorney and podcast host, interviewed Morvillo last week. He wrote a blog describing him as a “superstar lawyer.”
“Chris devoted over a decade of his career to bringing justice to Mike Lynch,” Marcus wrote. “He got justice and then this happened…. It’s hard to find the right words for it.”
Morvillo’s wife, Neda, owns a luxury jewelry line under her maiden name, Neda Nassiri. According to the company’s website, she has been designing and handcrafting jewelry in New York for two decades.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
