It has now been confirmed that Mike Lynch, one of the most prominent and controversial figures in the U.K. tech scene, died in the sinking of his superyacht off Sicily on Monday. At least five others also died when the vessel capsized in a violent storm; Lynch’s teenage daughter Hannah remains missing.
I encourage you to read my colleague Ryan Hogg’s obituary of Lynch, who I was writing about just a couple weeks ago in the context of his legal travails. Following a lengthy extradition drama, Lynch, 59, was acquitted in June of criminal fraud charges relating to the sale of his data software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011. Indeed, his fateful trip with family, friends and lawyers was reportedly a celebration of that victory.
