The Italian Sea Group (TISG) has initiated legal action against Angela Bacares, the widow of British tech billionaire Mike Lynch, seeking nearly £400 million in damages over the sinking of the superyacht Bayesian, which killed Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah and five others in August 2024.
The lawsuit, filed in Sicily, alleges that the sinking has severely impacted TISG's business operations. The 56-metre vessel sank during a violent storm off Porticello, near Palermo, in the early hours of August 19, 2024. Bacares, who survived the incident, is named as the legal owner of the yacht's holding company, Revtom.
TISG claims the sinking led to significant financial losses, including the collapse of planned yacht orders worth close to £1 billion. The company asserts it has been unjustly blamed for the disaster, which it describes as a catastrophic event that damaged its reputation. Court documents indicate TISG is also holding the yacht's skipper, James Cutfield, and two crew members accountable for alleged negligence and incompetence that contributed to the yacht's capsizing.
Data recovered from the Bayesian's Automatic Identification System breaks down how it sank in a minute-by-minute timeline. At 3.50am the Bayesian began to shake "dangerously" during a fierce storm; minutes later the boat's anchor gave way and it was dragged some 358 metres through the water. By 4am it had begun to take on water and was plunged into a blackout; at 4.05am it fully disappeared beneath the waves. An emergency GPS signal was finally emitted at 4.06am.
Some 15 of the 22 onboard were rescued, 11 of them scrambling onto an inflatable life raft. The victims were Lynch and his daughter Hannah; Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy; Lynch's lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda; and the yacht's chef, Recaldo Thomas.
Italian prosecutors have determined that improper crew actions and the failure to activate safety devices caused the sinking, characterising the weather as a manageable squall rather than an insurmountable storm. The investigation is exploring charges of negligent shipwreck and multiple counts of manslaughter against the captain and two crew members. Technical data from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch showed wind speeds reached 63.4 knots — enough to tip the vessel onto its beam — and found the Bayesian would actually capsize at 70.6 degrees, contradicting the builder's claim it could recover from a 73-degree heel.
TISG chief Giovanni Costantino has consistently defended the design, calling the yacht "unsinkable". Lynch, known as "Britain's Bill Gates" for building software giant Autonomy, had been celebrating his acquittal on US fraud charges over the £11 billion sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard. The lawsuit adds a bitter legal coda: Bacares was also set to see her late husband's estate pursued by HP over a £920 million fraud order.