22 September 2024, 18:17
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A legal row has erupted following the sinking of Mike Lynch’s superyacht with the boat’s constructor demanding up to £186 million from the tech tycoon’s widow and boat’s crew, according to court papers.
The legal action, lodged in a Sicilian court, argued the sinking of the Bayesian last month has caused reputational damage and loss of earnings to its builder.
The Italian Sea Group (TISG), which specialises in manufacturing superyachts, denied “authoritising” their lawyer to file the case following reports that the paperwork had been lodged. The firm said he had been instructed to withdraw it immediately.
Lynch’s family have reportedly found the move “disgraceful” following the 59-year-old’s death alongside his 18-year-old daughter Hannah and five others.
The seven bodies have only recently been returned home and none of the victims’ funerals are thought to have taken place yet.
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TISG said in a statement: “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 authorised any writ of summons.”
The papers reportedly name James Cutfield, the yacht’s New Zealand captain, and two other crew members.
Camper & Nicholsons, the yacht management company responsible for hiring the crew, were also reportedly named, according to Italian newspaper La Nazione.
Others included Revtom, the Isle of Man-based company that owned the Bayesian. The firm is controlled by Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, 57, who survived the tragedy.
Bacares was among the 15 passengers who survived after the 56-metre British-flagged luxury yacht went down near Sicily, in the Mediterranean on August 19.
It is thought that the yacht may have been struck by a “downburst” – a localised, powerful wind that descends from a thunderstorm and spreads out rapidly on hitting the ground.
All crew members survived except for the chef, but six passengers were trapped in the yacht’s hull and died.
TISG’s chief executive, Giovanni Costantino, publicly blamed the Bayesian crew in the hours following the disaster, before all the bodies were recovered.
“Everything that was done reveals a very long summation of errors,” he told the Corriere della Sera newspaper. “The people should not have been in the cabins, the boat should not have been at anchor.”
He claimed the yacht was “unsinkable”.
A close friend of Lynch’s family told The Times: “The Italian Sea Group should be ashamed. 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.”
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It comes after Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) confirmed plans to continue with its claim for up to £3 billion in damages against Lynch after his death.
The US tech giant won a UK High Court civil claim against him in 2022, accusing him and his former finance director, Sushovan Hussain, of fraud over its 11 billion dollar (£8.37 billion) takeover of his software company Autonomy in 2011.
US firm HPE is seeking damages of up to 4 billion US dollars (£3 billion), with the judge set to rule on the final sum soon.
Lynch was cleared in a separate criminal fraud trial over the Autonomy case in the US in June.
His death means Bacares, could now be liable for the damages claim in London.
HPE said: “In 2022, an English High Court judge ruled that HPE had substantially succeeded in its civil fraud claims against Dr Lynch and Mr Hussain.
“A damages hearing was held in February 2024 and the judge’s decision regarding damages due to HPE will arrive in due course.
“It is HPE’s intention to follow the proceedings through to their conclusion.”
The judge in the UK civil case has already ruled the amount payable in damages would be “substantially less” than HPE had sought, which raised questions over HPE’s reasoning for pursuing the claim after the superyacht tragedy.