The company that built the superyacht Bayesian is suing the widow of British tech billionaire Mike Lynch for almost £400 million, alleging that the vessel's sinking destroyed its business.
The Italian Sea Group has filed a lawsuit in Sicily seeking €456 million in damages. Court papers lodged in the town of Termini Imerese name Angela Bacares, Lynch's widow, as the legal owner of Revtom, the Isle of Man-registered company that owned the £30 million yacht, along with the vessel's skipper James Cutfield and two crew members, Timothy Eaton and Matthew Griffiths.
The 184-foot Bayesian sank within minutes during a violent storm off the coast of Sicily in August 2024. Lynch, 59, died alongside his 18-year-old daughter Hannah and five others. Bacares survived the disaster, as did 15 others on board.
The Italian Sea Group claims to have lost hundreds of millions in sales after being blamed for the tragedy. The lawsuit, first reported by The Telegraph, argues that the company intended to sell yachts representing nearly €1 billion by 2028, but has not sold a single Perini Navi yacht since the sinking and has stopped receiving expressions of interest from the international brokers it works with. The company also says its share price has tumbled and the value of the Perini Navi brand, which it acquired in 2021, has collapsed.
Crucially, the builder insists the disaster was caused by crew incompetence and negligence, not by any flaw in the yacht's design or construction. It alleges the crew failed to close hatches, heed weather warnings and lower the keel as conditions worsened. Giovanni Costantino, the Italian yachting millionaire who is the group's majority owner, has repeatedly described the vessel as unsinkable.
The captain and the two crew members are also under criminal investigation by Italian prosecutors, who are considering possible charges including negligent shipwreck and manslaughter. Prosecutors' experts have reportedly concluded that the weather alone did not reach a level that could explain the loss of the vessel.
For Bacares, the lawsuit compounds an already overwhelming legal landscape. She faces the prospect of further claims from bereaved families, and reports have suggested a separate UK High Court ruling has left the Lynch estate exposed to liabilities exceeding £700 million. The company cited a fashion brand that reportedly withdrew plans to work with it after the sinking as one example of the commercial damage. Costantino has claimed the yacht took around 16 minutes to sink, which he believes should have allowed time for those on board to be rescued. Fifteen people did manage to escape, but the seven who died included Lynch, his daughter Hannah, four of his business associates and the yacht's chef, Recaldo Thomas.
The case has become a focal point for broader debates about accountability and corporate responsibility in the world of ultra-high-value yachts.