All About Fraud Trial that Acquitted Mike Lynch, Who Went Missing Off Sicily's Coast During Celebratory Yacht Trip

Mar. 15, 2025

Mike Lynch.Photo:Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty

Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty

Two months before he was declared missing after asuperyacht sank off the coast of Sicily, British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch was acquitted on fraud and conspiracy charges.

A source close to the survivors confirms to PEOPLE that Lynch was celebrating his acquittal when the yacht went down early on the morning of Monday, Aug. 19. “That’s why he took his closest friends and colleagues on the trip,” the source says.

Local authoritiespreviously confirmed to PEOPLEthat Lynch’s daughter, Hannah, is also missing, along with four other people. The ship sank off the coast of Porticello following a “violent storm,” officials said. Fifteen people, including Lynch’s wife, have been rescued.

The indictment was related to the 2011 sale of Autonomy, a business software company Lynch founded, to Hewlett Packard. The sale, the AP reported, was for $11 billion and generated $800 million for Lynch himself.

Federal authorities in the United States had alleged that Lynch inflated Autonomy’s revenues prior to the sale to HP,TechCrunchreported.

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The trial didn’t begin until 2024, the BBC reported, because Lynch fought extradition to the United States for years following his indictment.

Lynch, who was facing 15 felony charges, was acquitted on all counts in June, the outlets reported.

source: people.com