Boatbuilder behind Mike Lynch's yacht 'seeking millions from widow'

by · Mail Online

A lawyer for the boatbuilder that assembled Mike Lynch's ill-fated superyacht that sank last month, killing him and six others including his 18-year-old daughter, has filed a lawsuit seeking £186million from his widow and the crew.  

Seven people were killed when the Bayesian, a £30 million superyacht owned by the Darktrace founder, sank last month in just 16 minutes after it was hit by a violent downburst in Porticello, Sicily. 

Mr Lynch, 59, and his 18-year-old daughter lost their lives alongside Morgan Stanley International president Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judith, as well a New York lawyer Chris Morvillo and his partner Neda and of the chef Recaldo Thomas.

The legal action, filed in a Sicilian court on Friday and first reported by Italian newspaper La Nazione, claims that the sinking caused massive reputational damage and loss of earnings to the Italian Sea Group (IGS), the manufacturer. 

While the 'disgraceful' move is said to have angered Lynch's family, IGS said that the lawyer who filed the suit, Tommaso Bertuccelli, was not 'authorised' to do so and has been told to withdraw it immediately. 

A lawyer for IGS is suing Angela Bacares (pictured, left) and the crew of the Bayesian for £186million 
A handout photo made available on 19 August 2024 by Perini Navi Press Office shows the 'Bayesian' sailing boat, in Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Seven people died following the Bayesian's sinking on August 19 
Mike Lynch (pictured, right) tragically died along with his daughter Hannah (pictured, left) 

The company said: 'The Italian Sea Group… strongly denies the claims published in La Nazione regarding a legal action following the Bayesian tragedy. Although TISG has given a generic mandate to the lawyers named in the article, no legal representative of the company has examined, signed or authorised any writ of summons.'

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Court papers reportedly name the vessel's captain, James Cutfield, two other crew members, Camper & Nicholsons, the yacht management company that hired the crew, and Revtom, the Isle of Man company that owned the Bayesian that is controlled by Lynch's widow, Angela Bacares, who survived the sinking in Porticello. 

A source close to the family told the Times: 'The Italian Sea Group should be ashamed. [IGS CEO] Giovanni Costantino is a disgrace, desperately trying to shift blame. He rushed to the media before all the bodies had even been recovered, showing his lack of decency. Now, it seems, he wants to sue his own clients.'

MailOnline has contacted Tommaso Bertuccelli for comment.  

The lawsuit comes less than a month after Italian prosecutors opened up a criminal investigation into the sinking. 

'We are only in the initial phase of the investigation. We can't exclude any sort of development at present,' Termini Imerese prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said at the time. 

Divers searching the wreck of the yacht last month. Shocking medical findings showed the six victims of the disaster whose bodies were recovered from the yacht had no water in their lungs, suggesting the cause of death was suffocation due to a lack of oxygen
Before his death aged 59, Mike had been embroiled in a transatlantic fraud case, the result of the 2011 sale of his tech group, Autonomy, in which the buyer, HPE, alleged ‘accounting irregularities’ had led to Lynch and his associates fraudulently inflating the price
Hannah was due to attend Oxford University before her life was tragically cut short 

The vessel's captain, New Zealander Mr Cutfield, 51, is among three people who are being probed by judicial authorities following the tragedy last month.

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Chief engineer Tim Parker Eaton, 56, and Matthew Griffiths, 22, are both British and, like the captain, also both being investigated for their alleged involvement in the deaths of the seven people onboard the Bayesian. 

Mr Parker Eaton, 56, has told prosecutors he followed procedures and made sure all was watertight as the storm engulfed the yacht.

According to excerpts from Mr Parker Eaton's statement, leaked to the Italian media, he insisted all doors and openings on the yacht were shut.

The other two crew members have so far not publicly commented.  

The bodies of the seven dead have since been repatriated from Sicily. 

Post-mortem examinations were carried out on the victims over recent days in Sicily, with preliminary results suggesting all but one had been trapped below deck when they died. 

Autopsies carried out on victims at Palermo's Policlinico hospital earlier this month revealed that they had no water in their lungs, Italian media reported, adding to fears that they may have been conscious as the yacht sank.

While their bodies have now been returned home, doctors in Palermo are continuing to investigate whether their deaths were caused by drowning or lack of oxygen in the cabin.