Superyacht builder Mike Lynch sues widow for £400m over Bayesian sinking
The builder of the superyacht Bayesian, on which British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch died, has launched a £400 million legal claim against his widow, claiming the tragedy has caused a catastrophic fall in its sales.
The Italian Sea Group (TISG) has filed a €456 million (£399 million) lawsuit in a Sicilian court, saying the boat’s crew and the ship’s management company are responsible for the sinking and the resulting damage to the company’s reputation and revenue.
Lynch, the former chief executive of Autonomy, died along with his teenage daughter Hannah and five others when the £30 million superyacht capsized during a severe storm off the coast of Sicily in August 2024. His wife, Angela Bacares Lynch, survived the incident and is the legal owner of Revtom, an Isle of Man-owned shipping company.
According to the lawsuit, TISG alleges that the crew’s “incompetence and negligence” led to the ship capsizing, and that the company has lost hundreds of millions of euros in yacht sales after being blamed for the disaster.
The lawsuit was filed by TISG and GC Holding Company, owned by Italian yacht tycoon Giovanni Costantino, at the Termini Imerese court, near the site of the sinking. It names Revtom, the boat’s captain James Cutfield, and crew members Timothy Eaton and Matthew Griffiths as defendants.
The suit claims the Bayesian was “unsinkable” but the crew failed to close hatches, heed weather warnings or lower the ship’s keel, causing it to capsize in high winds. It also states that Revtom is legally responsible for the actions of those using the boat.
The allegations are in stark contrast to the findings of the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch, which last year said the superyacht had “defects” unknown to the crew. The ship, built in 2008 under the Perini Navi brand, featured one of the longest masts in the world.
A source close to the Lynch family strongly rejected TISG’s claims, describing the case as “desperate, opportunistic and in bad faith”.
“The UK investigation raised serious and unresolved questions about the boat’s design, durability and performance characteristics,” the source said. “This action appears to be designed to distract from those issues, but will not prevent a proper review of how the ship was designed, licensed and built.”
TISG says the decline due to the divestment has been a major financial risk. The company said it has not been able to sell a single Perini-branded boat since the incident, as expressions of interest from buyers and potential buyers have dried up. It also says that the crisis caused a drop in the share price and a drop in the value of the Perini Navi brand, which TISG acquired in bankruptcy in 2021.
Before the crisis, the group said it planned to sell yachts worth one billion by 2028.
Ms Bacares Lynch declined to comment on the case. TISG did not respond to requests for comment, and the captain and crew members named in the request could not be reached. Italian prosecutors have confirmed that members of the group are under criminal investigation.
Lynch founded the Cambridge-based software company Autonomy, which was sold to Hewlett-Packard for £7 billion in 2011. He was later charged with fraud by US prosecutors but was acquitted in 2024. He was celebrating his legal victory with family and friends on the Bayesia boat at the time of the sinking.
Separately, Lynch’s estate is facing a major civil suit in the UK from Hewlett-Packard, which is seeking £1.5 billion in damages linked to the Autonomy acquisition. TISG also sued the New York Times last year following a report that raised questions about the yacht’s design.
