Mike Lynch, a prominent UK tech tycoon, has been reported missing after his luxury superyacht sank off the coast of Italy on Monday. The incident occurred just hours after his co-defendant in a US fraud trial, Stephen Chamberlain, was killed in a car accident, fueling widespread speculation and conspiracy theories on social media.
Lynch, the founder of Autonomy, spent more than a decade building one of Britain’s largest software companies, and nearly as long fighting fraud charges related to its multi-billion-pound sale to Hewlett-Packard (HP). According to Reuters, Lynch sold Autonomy to HP for USD 11 billion in 2011, but the deal was overshadowed by allegations of a massive accounting scandal. In 2012, HP wrote off USD 8.8 billion of the company's value, sparking a legal battle that lasted over a decade.
In June, Lynch was acquitted of criminal charges by a jury in San Francisco. He was reportedly celebrating the verdict aboard his superyacht, Bayesian, off the coast of Sicily when the vessel capsized due to bad weather, specifically a waterspout. Of the 22 people aboard, 15 were rescued, one was found dead, and six, including Lynch, remain missing.
Chamberlain, the former Vice President of Finance at Autonomy, was killed in a separate incident after being hit by a car while jogging on Saturday. His sudden death, followed closely by Lynch’s disappearance, has led to an outpouring of conspiracy theories online.
Social media platform X has been particularly active, with many users expressing doubts over the timing of the two incidents. Professor Katherine Schofield remarked, “Sorry but this is just too weird. It can't possibly be a coincidence that BOTH Mike Lynch and Stephen Chamberlain were killed in freak accidents within a couple of days of each other.”
Similarly, X user Clive Ansell wrote, “I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist normally, but Mike Lynch and Stephen Chamberlain both disappearing/dying so close together after being declared innocent over the Autonomy sale definitely got me thinking this morning.”
Another user, Mike Cosgrove, questioned the nature of Lynch’s disappearance: “So the minute he gets a Not Guilty verdict, and starts talking about US control over UK government and UK legal processes, Mike Lynch suddenly goes missing.”
The investigation into the yacht's sinking and Lynch's disappearance is ongoing, as efforts continue to locate the missing individuals.
