Lynch yacht sinking: Manslaughter probe launched in Italy

Italian investigators are probing the the sinking of the 56-meter-long (184-foot), UK-flagged superyacht Bayesian, the head of the public prosecutor's office in Palermo's Termini Imerese , Ambrogio Cartosio, announced on Saturday.

Cartosio said the investigation was not aimed at any individual but that it was "plausible" that multiple crimes may have been committed relating to manslaughter and negligence in the pre-dawn sinking that killed seven people including: UK tech enterpreneur Mike Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Morgan Stanley banker Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda, and the ship's onboard cook.

Though outside observers say the boat likely sank as the result of a weather anomaly such as a waterspout or a downburst, Cartosio suggested it could also have been the result of "behavior that was not aligned with the responsibilities that everyone needs to take while boating."

Giovanni Costantino, CEO of the Italian Sea Group — the company that owns the yacht's manufacturer, Perini — ruled out design and construction issues as the reason for the unexpectedly quick capsizing and sinking of the vessel, pointing instead to a string of "indescribable, unreasonable errors" committed by the Bayesian's crew.

Prosecutors have said that James Cutfield, the ship's captain, has been questioned alongside other survivors and has been "extremely cooperative."

A total of 15 people survived the sinking, having escaped in a lifeboat.

Investigators focus on salvaging yacht to look for clues

The body of the ship's cook was found near the wreck on Monday, and six more bodies were recovered from the boat's wreckage on Wednesday and Thursday.

Investigators and salvagers are now working to retrieve the vessel itself, which is lying on the seabed off Sicily at a depth of about 50 meters (164 feet)

Most of the crew managed to escape. It has been speculated that those who did not survive the sinking had been asleep when the vessel went down. Questions have now arisen the crew's effort to alert them and give them time to evacuate.

Investigators said that all of the bodies eventually recovered were found in one single cabin on the port side of the vessel. The room did not belong to any of those inside.

Prosecutors say those involved in the incident are free to leave Italy but are requested to remain available for further questioning.

Alcohol and drug testing was not carried out after the incident as survivors were first treated for shock and injuries.

Passengers were on the Bayesian at the invitation of software tycoon Lynch to celebrate his acquittal in an $11 billion (€9.8 billion) US fraud case. The superyacht was owned by Lynch's wife Angela Bacares who survived with their one-year-old daughter.

Why was Lynch on trial before yacht sinking?

Lynch, who was regularly referred to as the Bill Gates of the UK, was a tech innovator and entrepreneur who founded the software company Autonomy in 1996. In 2011, Lynch sold Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard (HP) for $11 billion. 

HP later accused Lynch of cooking the books to make the sale and fired by HP’s then-CEO Meg Whitman. A decade-long legal battle ensued, leading to Lynch’s extradition from the UK to face criminal fraud charges in the US.

Lynch denied wrongdoing, asserting he was being made a scapegoat for HP’s own missteps. US Justice Department prosecutors called more than 30 witnesses in their attempt to prove Lynch engaged in accounting duplicity.

Lynch avoided jail in the US, yet still faced financial penalties stemming from a 2022 London civil case where the court mostly sided with HP. The US company sought $4 billion in damages, though the exact ammount had not been officially determined. 

Lynch made more than $800 million from the Autonomy sale, with Forbes pegging his wealth $1 billion in 2015. Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper estimated this year that Lynch and his wife Angela Bacares were worth 500 million pounds ($655 million) around the time of his death..

In the months leading up to the deal that would go awry, HP valued Autonomy at $46 billion, according to evidence presented at Lynch’s trial.

js/dj (dpa, Reuters)