An inquest has begun into the deaths of tech tycoon Mike Lynch and three other British nationals after the superyacht Bayesian sank in Sicily last year.
The 59-year-old is known for founding technology investment firm Invoke Capital and Autonomy Corporation and was in the headlines after he was cleared of charges in a high-profile US fraud case in June 2024.
Mr Lynch was on the Bayesian superyacht, which sank in bad weather on 19 August 2024 near the Sicilian capital Palermo.
There were 12 guests and 10 crew on board – of whom 15 were rescued, including Mr Lynch’s wife.
Their daughter, Hannah, 18, Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, 70, and his wife Judy Bloomer, 71, all died following the sinking.
The others who died, in addition to the four British nationals, were US lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo, and Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was working as a chef on the vessel.
Once dubbed the “British Bill Gates”, his death came just weeks after he was cleared of all charges by a US jury related to the sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011. The boat trip was a celebration of his acquittal.
Mr Lynch founded Autonomy in 1996 using technology he developed as a Cambridge student. HP claimed, just a year after the sale, that Mr Lynch had used accounting tricks to artificially inflate its value before the sale.
He was then extradited to the US last May for a trial that acquitted him on all 15 counts over the 11-billion dollar (£8.64 billion) purchase of his company.
Mr Lynch said on BBC’s Radio 4 that being acquitted was “indescribable” and believed he could only clear his name because of his huge wealth.
He said most people, even if they sold all their assets, would run out of funds in a matter of months, to cover the legal fees, a situation that he said “has to change.”
Born near Chelmsford, Essex, to a mother who worked as a nurse and father who worked as a fireman, Mr Lynch said his father regretted not having the chance to attend university. He told LeadersIn: “He realised the importance of education so that was something that was very much fostered in my home.”
When he was 11 years old, he won a scholarship to study at Bancroft’s School in Woodford Green and then studied natural sciences at the University of Cambridge.
He set up his first company in the 1980s, with a £2,000 loan from the manager of a band, producing audio products for the recording industry.
Mr Lynch has a string of accolades including being awarded an OBE for services to enterprise in 2006. That same year, he was appointed to the BBC’s board. He was also elected to former prime minister David Cameron’s council for science and technology in 2011.
