Superyacht builder sues Mike Lynch’s widow for £186 million after tragic Bayesian sinking in Sicily

The £30 million superyacht Bayesian, owned by Mike Lynch, sank after a violent downburst in Sicily, killing seven.

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

The tragedy occurred when the Bayesian, a £30 million superyacht owned by Darktrace founder Mike Lynch, sank within 16 minutes after being struck by a violent downburst in Porticello, Sicily, killing seven people.

Among the victims were Mr. Lynch, 59, his 18-year-old daughter, Morgan Stanley International president Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judith, New York lawyer Chris Morvillo, his partner Neda, and the chef Recaldo Thomas.

The lawsuit, filed in a Sicilian court on Friday and first reported by Italian newspaper La Nazione, alleges the sinking caused severe reputational damage and financial losses to the Italian Sea Group (IGS), the shipbuilder.

Though Lynch’s family is reportedly outraged by the "disgraceful" move, IGS stated that the lawyer, Tommaso Bertuccelli, was not "authorized" to file the lawsuit and has been instructed to withdraw it immediately.

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 authorized any writ of summons.”

The legal documents reportedly name the yacht's captain, James Cutfield, two other crew members, Camper & Nicholsons (the yacht management company that hired the crew), and Revtom, the Isle of Man-based company that owned the Bayesian, which is controlled by Lynch’s widow, Angela Bacares, who survived the incident.

A family source 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.”