Latest news with #Bacares
Times
2 days ago
- Times
Mike Lynch's widow ‘felt safe' on yacht minutes before it sank
The widow of the British IT tycoon Mike Lynch has told investigators that she had total faith in the Bayesian superyacht and its crew in the minutes before it sank in a storm off Sicily last August. Angela Bacares said she was confident after ten years of sailing on the yacht which had ridden out a violent storm in Naples days earlier. 'I felt safe on the boat,' she said, adding that she was 'reassured by the crew'. The sinking in the early hours of August 19 claimed the lives of her 18-year-old daughter and her husband, who had organised a Mediterranean cruise to celebrate his victory in a US fraud trial. Five others also drowned and 15 survived, including all but one of the crew members, as the $40 million yacht rolled over in high wind and sank while anchored off Porticello near Palermo. Magistrates have placed crew members, including the captain, James Cutfield, under investigation. In her first account of those moments to magistrates, made last year and now released by the TV programme Quarta Repubblica, Bacares, 58, said she was woken up by movement at 4am as the storm gained strength, and went up on deck, but said she was calm. 'In these ten years I had been afraid of hitting rocks or getting trapped by the anchor of another boat, but I had never thought something catastrophic could occur. I had never felt it necessary to wake up others because of rough weather.' said Bacares, whose company owned the Bayesian. 'The boat was rocking but not enough to move things in the room. I was not worried, I was curious about what was happening,' she said. As the boat tipped over on its side and water entered, the captain reassured her it would turn no further because it was already at 90 degrees. 'I believed my husband and my daughter would have been able to swim up. I was convinced the boat would not turn over,' she said. Seconds later she was swimming in open sea as the yacht vanished from sight. Magistrates are now set to decide whether to bring crew members to trial. An interim report by the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch has criticised the design of the vessel, including its unusually tall mast.
The Irish Sun
2 days ago
- The Irish Sun
Billionaire's widow reveals final moments before doomed £14m Bayesian yacht sank in Italy killing daughter and husband
THE brave widow of Brit billionaire Mike Lynch has opened up on the final moments before the doomed £14 million Bayesian yacht sank. Angela Bacares, 58, survived the maritime disaster but lost both her husband and their teenage daughter Hannah. 10 Angela Bacares has revealed the final moments before the Bayesian sank last year and killed her husband Mike Lynch Credit: Facebook 10 The couple's teenage daughter Hannah also died in the disaster Credit: PA Advertisement 10 The 184ft Bayesian sank within a few minutes after being hit by high winds last August 10 Ms Bacares was awakened in the middle of the night when the luxury vessel started to tilt as a storm ripped through Sicily in August of last year. The 184ft Bayesian sank within a few minutes after being hit by the downburst - a strong, localised wind - while anchored in Porticello near Palermo. Advertisement Seven people died including four Brits after a frantic rescue mission. Speaking just before the one-year anniversary of the tragedy Ms Bacares told Italian prosecutors that when she sat up in bed she was "not worried, just curious". As the bad weather continued to rock those on board, Ms Bacares recalled seeing objects beginning to slide around the cabin she was sharing with Mr Lynch. But the widow says she remained calm and didn't think they were in a "serious situation". Advertisement This feeling was due to her being caught in another treacherous bout of weather just two weeks earlier in Naples which passed by after some time. The dangerous winds continued to worsen, according to Ms Bacares, as she later decided to leave her cabin and speak to captain James Cutfield just before 4am. New Zealander Cutfield and his crew were praised by Ms Bacares in her latest statement as she had always felt "reassured" by their calmness in the bad weather. But the skipper, 52, was placed under investigation for shipwreck and manslaughter after details of the sinking were uncovered. I found doomed Bayesian I saw still haunts me Italian prosecutors have also been looking into the ship's engineer Tim Parker Eaton and nightwatchman Matthew Griffiths. Advertisement All three deny any blame as investigations continue. Ms Bacares says after speaking to the crew she continued to feel calm. Then "something catastrophic happened", she said. She recalls the boat suddenly rolling over on its side as 80mph winds and a tornado-like waterspout battered the mast and left those on boards running for their lives. As the boat sank rapidly, Ms Bacares was pulled to safety by a crew member unaware of where her loved ones were. Advertisement Of the 22 onboard, 15 survived but seven died including Mr Lynch and Hannah, 18. Divers spent five days scouring the Bayesian wreck to retrieve the bodies of the missing passengers. They found Mr Lynch and his four guests, Chris and Neda Morvillo and Jonathan and Judy Bloomer, in the first cabin on the left. 10 Haunting pictures show the aftermath of the Bayesian's sinking Credit: TG/RAINEWS 10 Floating crane ships Hebo LIFT 10 and Hebo LIFT 2 recover part of the Bayesian yacht, June 20 Credit: PA Advertisement 10 Hannah was the last passenger to be discovered in the third cabin. Officials said the victims had scrambled to reach air pockets in the yacht as it sank stern-first before rolling onto its right side on the seabed. Businesswoman Angela is now also facing a financial battle. There is the potential of court action by the families of the victims who died on the yacht — and earlier this week, the UK's High Court ruled that her husband's estate owes US tech giant Hewlett-Packard more than £700million relating to fraud claims. Advertisement The case was brought six years ago by HP after they acquired his company Autonomy in 2011. The firm claimed Lynch and the former chief financial officer had fraudulently inflated its value. While Lynch was facing court action in America, HP was already chasing him through the civil courts in Britain — leading to this week's damages ruling. The High Court ruled that HP had paid a lot more than it would have done 'had Autonomy's true financial position been correctly presented' during the sale. If his estate — which goes to Angela and her remaining daughter Esme, 22 — ends up having to pay, it will almost certainly be bankrupted, leaving no inheritance for the family. Advertisement Inside the Bayesian's final 16 minutes DATA recovered from the Bayesian's Automatic Identification System (AIS) breaks down exactly how it sank in a painful minute-by-minute timeline. At 3.50am on Monday August 19 the Bayesian began to shake "dangerously" during a fierce storm, Italian outlet Corriere revealed. Just minutes later at 3.59am the boat's anchor gave way, with a source saying the data showed there was "no anchor left to hold". After the ferocious weather ripped away the boat's mooring it was dragged some 358 metres through the water. By 4am it had began to take on water and was plunged into a blackout, indicating that the waves had reached its generator or even engine room. At 4.05am the Bayesian fully disappeared underneath the waves. An emergency GPS signal was finally emitted at 4.06am to the coastguard station in Bari, a city nearby, alerting them that the vessel had sunk. Early reports suggested the disaster struck around 5am local time off the coast of Porticello Harbour in Palermo, Sicily. The new data pulled from the boat's AIS appears to suggest it happened an hour earlier at around 4am. Some 15 of the 22 onboard were rescued, 11 of them scrambling onto an inflatable life raft that sprung up on the deck. A smaller nearby boat - named Sir Robert Baden Powell - then helped take those people to shore. 10 Lynch, 59, died as the yacht sank Credit: Reuters 10 Divers found the Bayesian earlier this year Credit: Massimo Sestini/ugpix
Yahoo
24-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How Mike Lynch shielded his family fortune from £700m fraud ruling
After winning his freedom last year, Mike Lynch was relaxed about the prospect that he might become personally penniless. The British software tycoon had faced the prospect of decades in prison before he defeated criminal fraud charges in a San Francisco trial, and described winning the case as being granted a 'second life'. The prospect of signing his wealth away to Hewlett-Packard (HP), the tech giant that was pursuing him for billions in the English courts, paled in comparison to ending his life behind bars. But Lynch was breezy about the prospect for another reason: a large portion of the Lynch family fortune was held in his wife Angela Bacares's name, shielding it from any legal repercussions. 'My wife has been very good at investing in the things that I've told her to from a point of view of technology. We've done very well,' Lynch said in an interview after he was acquitted. 'It's not a perilous situation.' Just a few weeks later, Lynch and his daughter Hannah died when the entrepreneur's superyacht, Bayesian, capsized off the coast of Sicily, a tragedy that Bacares herself survived. But the decision for Bacares to hold much of the wealth in her name now looks like a wise move. On Tuesday, a judge ruled that HP was owed almost £740m from Lynch and his business partner Sushovan Hussain over the fraudulent sale of their software giant Autonomy 14 years ago. With Mr Hussain having settled privately, Lynch's estate is on the hook for the majority of the damages. Valued by lawyers at $450m (£333m) during his US trial, the fortune in Lynch's estate would be wiped out by the judgment. An appeal by Lynch's legal team is likely. But even if the estate is bankrupted, Bacares is sitting on a fortune worth hundreds of millions owing to the way the pair divided the proceeds of Lynch's endeavours. American-born Bacares, 58, worked on Wall Street and in the City of London before her and Lynch were engaged in 2001 and married the following year. She has not made any public comments since her husband's death, beyond a brief message from the Lynch family stating they are 'devastated'. But her name has featured regularly in stock market filings, company records and court documents. While Lynch made around £500m from selling Autonomy, Bacares, who was occasionally an employee at the company, sold £15.6m of shares. By the time Lynch's next venture, cybersecurity company Darktrace, made it to the public markets, Ms Bacares was the dominant shareholder. She owned 12.8pc of the company at the time of its London flotation, compared to a 4.9pc stake owned by Lynch. Bacares and Lynch had both sold the majority of their stakes by the time Darktrace was bought by private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $5.3bn last year – netting hundreds of millions of pounds. She is also one of the biggest shareholders in Luminance, a legal AI company backed by Lynch's venture capital firm, that has raised more than $115m. Company filings also show her listed as a director at Bunhill Partners, a now defunct algorithmic trading. The couple's personal assets were also held in her name, including Loudham Hall, the Suffolk estate where they lived, and Bayesian itself. The superyacht, raised only last month, was owned by Revtom Limited, of which Bacares was the only shareholder. This may now present its own legal complications. Families of those who perished on Bayesian, including cook Recaldo Thomas and Lynch's lawyer, Chris Morvillo, are seeking compensation from the insurance company that covered the vessel. Hewlett-Packard, now known as HPE, could also theoretically pursue Bacares if there is a shortfall from the fraud case, although the optics of going after his widow would be questionable. Even if Lynch's estate is wiped out, his family are likely to be well looked after. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mike Lynch's Sailing Yacht Has Been Recovered One Year After It Sank
Mike Lynch's ill-fated sailing yacht is finally out of the water. The 184-foot Bayesian—which capsized off the coast of Sicily last August, killing the British tech mogul and six others—was pulled from the ocean on Saturday, according to the Associated Press. Salvage recovery crews in Italy slowly raised the sloop from the seabed over three days using one of Europe's most powerful floating sea cranes. The yacht was transported from the fishing village of Porticello to the town of Termini Imerese on Sunday, according to The Guardian. It will be stored in a specially manufactured steel cradle so that British and Italian investigators can examine it as part of an inquiry into the cause of the sinking. More from Robb Report Paris Hilton Just Snagged Mark Wahlberg's Former L.A. Megamansion for $63 Million This Ultra-Rare Mercedes-Benz SLR "McLaren Edition" Can Be Yours for $700,000 A London Mansion With Ties to Charles Dickens Just Listed for $25 Million Delivered by Perini Navi in 2008, Bayesian was originally sold to Dutch property developer John Groenewoud in 2008, before Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, purchased it through her company in 2014. Lynch and Bacares took their 18-year-old daughter and a group of friends to Sicily on the yacht last August. It is believed they were celebrating Lynch's recent acquittal: He had just been cleared of fraud charges relating to the purchase of his company Autonomy by Hewlett-Packard in 2011. That celebration ended in tragedy. Bayesian was struck by a severe thunderstorm on August 19. The yacht, which was anchored just offshore near the port of Porticello, was hit by violent 80 mph winds that caused it to flood within seconds, according to the UK's Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB). A total of 22 people were on board; Lynch, his daughter, and five others died. Chairman of Morgan Stanley International Jonathan Bloomer and attorney Chris Morvillo were among those killed when the vessel sank, with a search and rescue mission later recovering the bodies of the seven people. Fifteen others—including nine crew members and six guests—scrambled into a life raft as the yacht began to capsize. Bacares was among those who were rescued. Investigators are hoping that the salvaged yacht will help them determine the cause of the sinking. They will now carry out a forensic examination to work out whether one of the hatches remained open and whether the keel was improperly raised. A number of experts have speculated that water entering through the top via open hatches could have caused the sinking. Italian prosecutors have opened an inquiry into suspected manslaughter and culpable shipwreck. Captain James Cutfield, engineer Tim Parker Eaton, and sailor Matthew Griffith have been placed under investigation, according to The Guardian. This does not imply guilt or mean that formal charges will necessarily follow. Best of Robb Report The 2024 Chevy C8 Corvette: Everything We Know About the Powerful Mid-Engine Beast The World's Best Superyacht Shipyards The ABCs of Chartering a Yacht Click here to read the full article.
