On board the doomed Bayesian superyacht that claimed Mike Lynch’s life were not only his family and friends but also crucial business figures who encapsulated the key phases of his career.
High-flying former employees at his tech group Autonomy, allies who helped push through its multibillion-dollar sale to HP, and the legal brains who defended him after that deal turned sour were all in attendance on the Mediterranean when it ran into storms on Monday morning.
Lynch was pronounced dead on Thursday after the yacht he boarded with 21 other passengers sank off the coast of Sicily.
He was celebrating his recent acquittal on fraud charges linked to HP’s $11.7 billion acquisition of Lynch’s tech group Autonomy in 2011.
Lynch was joined by his wife, Angela Bacares, who survived, and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah Lynch, whose body was recovered on Friday morning.
Other passengers included critical allies who had supported Lynch through the tech mogul’s most turbulent period.
The getaway was a symbolic voyage on what Lynch had described as the beginning of a “second life.”
The coincidental car crash: Steven Chamberlain
Rumors have now swirled about the connections between the guests on the boat and the coincidental death of Steven Chamberlain in a collision with a driver in Cambridgeshire, just days before the boat sank.
Chamberlain was a veteran at Autonomy and went on to become chief operating officer at Darktrace, a company widely connected with Autonomy. He took a “leave of absence” to defend himself during Lynch’s recent trial in the United States.
Former Autonomy NED: Jonathan Bloomer
The body of Jonathan Bloomer, 70, as well as that of his wife, Judy Bloomer, 71, were recovered alongside Lynch’s on Wednesday.
Autonomy appointed Bloomer as a non-executive board member in 2010. He chaired the group’s audit committee during the HP sale and was a key witness for Lynch’s defense during his fraud trial in California. At the time of his passing, Bloomer was an international chair at Morgan Stanley International.
Bloomer told prosecutors that Lynch “wasn’t particularly interested in the finance side” of Autonomy, preferring to focus on strategy and the company’s products.
Lynch’s lawyers: Chris Morvillo and Ayla Ronald
Chris Morvillo, 59, passed away aboard the Bayesian yacht with his wife, American jewelry designer Neda Morvillo, 57.
Morvillo, a lawyer at magic circle firm Clifford Chance, represented Lynch in his criminal trial in the U.S.
He told the legal podcast For the Defense that the case “covered one-third of my career” after his first meeting with Lynch in 2012, as HP’s unrest grew.
In a rare LinkedIn post following the trial, which would also prove to be one of his last, Morvillo thanked his daughters and his late wife, Neda.
“I am so glad to be home,” Morvillo wrote.
“And they all lived happily ever after…”
Ayla Ronald, a 36-year-old senior associate at Clifford Chance, was also on board the Bayesian with her partner, Matthew Fletcher. Both survived the sinking.
Ronald’s company profile details how she also defended Lynch in his fraud trial with HP.
Extensive links to Darktrace
After Lynch sold Autonomy, for which he is reported to have received £500 million ($656 million), he set up the venture capital fund Invoke Capital in 2012, which would see his influence expand deep into the U.K. tech scene in his final years.
Invoke was an early-stage investor in Darktrace, now subject to a $5.3 billion acquisition from U.S. private equity firm Thoma Bravo. The VC fund also invested in British AI company Luminance, which closed a $40 million funding round in April.
Lynch and his wife Angela held millions of their net worth in their final years through Darktrace, with a source telling Fortune they collectively had a 3% stake in the £4 billion ($5.25 billion) valued company at the time of their passing. Fortune exclusively revealed the deal is expected to still complete later in 2024.
Several former high flyers from Lynch’s Autonomy days leaped into key positions at Darktrace. Poppy Gustafsson, Darktrace’s current CEO, was a corporate controller at Autonomy. In a LinkedIn post commemorating the lives lost, Gustafsson said "Without Mike, there would be no Darktrace. We owe him so much."
The links appear deep; Darktrace’s founding CEO Nicole Eagan also served as chief marketing officer at Autonomy, during the acquisition period involving HP. Neither Eagan or Gustafsson were on the boat, and both continue to hold leadership positions at Darktrace today.
Invoke Capital: Charlotte Golunski
Charlotte Golunski is another person with long-held business ties to Lynch. She is a partner at Invoke Capital, joining during its formation in 2012. Invoke Capital shared offices with Darktrace near London’s Trafalgar Square for a number of years.
Before joining Invoke, Golunski worked for Lynch at Autonomy and HP Autonomy for a year after the acquisition.
Golunski, 35, survived the sinking of the Bayesian alongside her partner, James Emsley, and their 1-year-old daughter. She had been asleep on the deck of the yacht with her baby when the storm hit, describing how she felt oscillations in the boat before it went down minutes later.
She told the Italian outlet La Repubblica how she held her baby above her arms in the water before she was rescued.
