Since June, the two men, Mike Lynch and Stephen Chamberlain had been in a jubilant mood. A jury in San Francisco had acquitted both on fraud charges that could have sent them to prison for two decades.
In August, Mr. Lynch was among those killed in a "freak weather event" while aboard his yacht. It was a mystifying turn of events for Mr. Lynch, 59, who had spent years seeking to clear his name and was finally celebrating a new chapter in his life with his billion dollar fortune.
He was accused by Hewlett-Packard, the American technological pioneer that had bought his software company, Autonomy, for $11 billion, of misleading it about his company’s worth. (Hewlett-Packard wrote down the value of the transaction by about $8.8 billion, and critics called it one of the worst deals of all time.) He had been increasingly shunned by the British establishment.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/22/world/europe/sicily-yacht-mike-lynch.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/22/world/europe/italy-sicily-yacht-bodies-found.html
The aura of misfortune only deepened when it emerged that Stephen Chamberlain, 52, a former vice president of finance for Mr. Lynch’s former company and a co-defendant in the fraud case, was killed two days earlier, in a separate 'accident' when he was hit by a car while jogging near his house in England.
Among the missing guests was also, Lynch's lawyer, Christopher J. Morvillo, 59, a scion of a prominent New York family of lawyers who had represented Mr. Lynch for 12 years. He and his wife, Neda, 57, were among the missing.
The others who were missing were Jonathan Bloomer, the chairman of Morgan Stanley International; his wife, Judy Bloomer. Also "missing" was Lynch's daughter, Hannah. In total, seven of the 22 members aboard the Yacht died or were missing (including one crew member the cook). The rest were rescued at sea.
Mike Lynch's wife survived to benefit from his billion dollar fortune.
To add to the intrigue: the 40 million dollar yacht they were on should have been unsinkable:
"Mr. Costantino, the boat executive, said the yacht had been specifically designed for having a tall mast — the second-tallest aluminum mast in the world. He said the Bayesian was an extremely safe and secure boat that could list even to 75 degrees without capsizing.
Experts wondered how a $40 million yacht, so robust and stable could have been sunk by a storm near a port within minutes.
“It drives me insane,” said Giovanni Costantino, the chief executive of the Italian Sea Group, which in 2022 bought the company, Perini, that made the Bayesian. “Following all the proper procedures, that boat is unsinkable.”
But he said that if some of the hatches on the side and in the stern, or some of the deck doors, had been open, the boat could have taken on water and sunk. Standard procedure in such storms, he said, is to switch on the engine, lift the anchor and turn the boat into the wind, lowering the keel for extra stability, closing doors and gathering the guests in the main hall inside the deck."
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/22/world/europe/sicily-yacht-mike-lynch.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/22/world/europe/italy-sicily-yacht-bodies-found.html
Mike Lynch's wife did survive…
Posted by johnblack1789
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Hewlett-Packard was part of the Rockefeller Syndicate.
In 1975, Ferdinand Lundberg traced the members and assets of the **”Rockefeller Syndicate”** of companies, which included banks like Chase and National City (now Citigroup) and industrial companies like DuPont, W.R. Grace, Corning Glass, Cummings Engine, and **Hewlett Packard.** Other companies under what Lundberg calls “coalition” or “joint” syndicate control included Consolidated Edison, AT&T, US Steel, Monsanto, General Foods, Chrysler, Colgate-Palmolive, and Anaconda Copper. Lundberg concluded that “the **Rockefeller Syndicate… controls or influences possibly $500 billion (or more) of income-producing assets.” That’s $500 billion 1975 dollars.**