Mike Lynch, a prominent British tech entrepreneur, is currently unaccounted for following a tragic incident where a luxury yacht sank off the coast of Sicily, Italy.
Lynch co-founded the British tech company Autonomy in 1996 and has invested in various successful tech enterprises, earning him recognition as the UK’s equivalent to Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
The mishap involved a 56-meter superyacht named Bayesian, which has ties to Lynch’s family, and has resulted in one confirmed death and six missing individuals, with his wife, Angela Bacares, having been rescued.
Lynch amassed his fortune through the sale of Autonomy to American giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011 for $11 billion (£8.6 billion). However, following this high-profile acquisition, he faced an intense legal battle spanning over a decade.
In June, he was acquitted of multiple fraud charges in a U.S. court, charges that had previously threatened him with up to 20 years in prison. During an interview with BBC Radio 4 in August, Lynch expressed that he believed his financial resources played a significant role in his ability to prove his innocence in court.
The yacht’s sinking coincided with the confirmation from Lynch’s co-defendant in the fraud case, Stephen Chamberlain, that he had died after being struck by a car in Cambridgeshire on the same day.