Mike Lynch, once dubbed UK’s ‘Bill Gates’, ‘beat the odds’ till superyacht Bayesian tragedy
- The tech tycoon, recently acquitted of US fraud charges, was on a celebratory cruise with family and friends when the vessel went down in a storm off Sicily
The 59-year-old businessman was acquitted in June by a San Francisco court after a decade-long legal battle with US firm Hewlett-Packard, but the allegations tarnished his image as a UK tech success story.
Since returning home, Lynch – an adviser to two British prime ministers – had criticised the government for allowing his extradition to the US in the first place.
“I am looking forward to returning to the UK and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field,” he said following his acquittal.
But in a tragic twist, he would perish on the Mediterranean celebrating his victory on a cruise with his family and the friends who had helped him through the ordeal.
Born to working-class Irish parents in Essex, east of London, in 1965, the academically bright Lynch won a scholarship to a private school.