Factbox: Who are the six missing in luxury yacht disaster off Sicily
20/08/2024 14:19
By Catarina Demony
LONDON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - An intense storm sank a
luxury yacht off Sicily's coast on Monday, killing one man and
leaving six missing, including British tech entrepreneur Mike
Lynch and his daughter. Fifteen people escaped before the yacht
sank.
Here are details about the missing passengers.
MIKE LYNCH AND DAUGHTER HANNAH
Tech entrepreneur Lynch built Britain's biggest software
company, Autonomy. Often dubbed Britain's Bill Gates, the
59-year-old was lauded by shareholders, scientists and
politicians when he sold it to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion
in 2011.
But in late 2012, HP said it had found a massive 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 on all criminal charges just weeks ago in the
United States.
After the sale of Autonomy, Lynch founded Invoke Capital, a
technology venture capital fund.
Lynch's daughter Hannah, 18, is also missing. A Sunday Times
profile of Lynch last month said Hannah was preparing to study
English literature at the University of Oxford.
His wife, Angela Bacares, who owns the vessel, was also
aboard it 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
chair of Morgan Stanley International since 2016, and is the
chair of international specialist insurer, Hiscox.
He was also chief executive of insurance and investment
company Prudential from 2000 to 2005.
He studied physics at London's Imperial College in the
1970s, according to his LinkedIn profile.
One of Bloomer's former employees wrote on LinkedIn he was
"always a friendly, approachable and engaging man".
Hiscox Chief Executive Aki Hussain said in a statement on
Tuesday they were deeply shocked and saddened and their thoughts
were with all those affected, in particular Bloomer and his wife
Judy, who was also aboard the yacht.
Judy, who studied English language and literature at
Homerton College in Cambridge, has worked as a psychotherapist
for nearly 30 years, specialising in anxiety and stress. She
started 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 defence
team, fighting a long legal battle to acquit his client. His
first ever post on LinkedIn was around two months ago to
celebrate the court victory.
"None of this would have been possible without your love and
support," Morvillo wrote to his family in the post, including
his wife, Neda Morvillo.
Before joining Clifford Chance in November 2011, Morvillo
worked as a principal at Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason &
Anello PC, providing advice on white collar criminal defence and
regulatory matters.
Morvillo, who studied law at Fordham University, also worked
as an assistant United States attorney for the Southern District
of New York between 1999 and 2005, assisting in the criminal
investigation arising out of the Sept. 11 attacks.
David Oscar Markus, a criminal defence lawyer and podcast
host, interviewed Morvillo last week. He wrote a blog describing
him as a "superstar lawyer".
"Chris dedicated over a decade of his career to obtaining
justice for Mike Lynch," Markus wrote. "He got it and then for
this to happen.... it's tough to find the right words."
Morvillo's wife, Neda, is the owner of a luxury jewellery
line under her maiden name, Neda Nassiri. According to the
company's website, she has been designing and hand-crafting
jewellery in New York for over two decades.
(Reporting by Catarina Demony; Additional reporting by Sachin
Ravikumar, Andres Estebaran and Sam Tobin; Editing by Sharon
Singleton)
((catarina.demony@thomsonreuters.com; +44 (0) 7900 276927
(Twitter: @CatarinaDemony);))