---

Missing lawyer specialised in corporate law

The Clifford Chance lawyer who remains missing following a boating tragedy in the Mediterranean had specialised in representing corporate and individual clients in white-collar government investigations.

According to the firm, Christopher J Morvillo, a former assistant US attorney for the Southern District of New York, represented tech tycoon Mike Lynch, also missing, in defeating US fraud charges earlier this summer.

Morvillo is missing following the sinking of the sailing yacht Bayesian off the coast of Sicily. The body of Recaldo Thomas, the ship’s chef, was recovered on Monday (19 August).

Those unaccounted for are Lynch and his teenage daughter Hannah Lynch, Morgan Stanley International chair Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy, and the Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife, Neda.

In June, Lynch was cleared by a federal jury in California of criminal charges relating to the sale of his software startup Autonomy to US-based Hewlett-Packard.

This followed an English High Court ruling in 2022 that Lynch and another Autonomy executive had fraudulently inflated the company’s revenue ahead of the acquisition, the England and Wales Law Society Gazette reports.

When the yacht Bayesian sank yesterday at anchor off the coast of Sicily there were 22 people on board and 15 were rescued including Clifford Chance associate Ayla Ronald.

Morvillo, who became a Clifford Chance partner in 2011, led the legal team which succeeded in clearing Lynch of securities and wire fraud.

Following the acquittal, Morvillo said: “We are thrilled with the jury’s verdict, which reflects a resounding rejection of the government’s profound overreach in this case. The evidence presented at trial demonstrated conclusively that Mike Lynch is innocent.

“This verdict closes the book on a relentless 13-year effort to pin HP’s well-documented ineptitude on Dr Lynch. Thankfully, the truth has finally prevailed. We thank Dr Lynch for his trust throughout this ordeal and hope that he can now return home to England to resume his life and continue innovating.”

Tipperary

Essex-born Lynch’s mother was a nurse from Tipperary while his father was a firefighter from Cork. A key figure in the AI sector, he earned a PhD from Cambridge after a stellar academic career.

Among his ventures was legal AI pioneer Luminance, whose software is used by 700 organisations worldwide including one quarter of the top-100 law firms. 

In an uncanny twist, the missing tycoon’s co-defendant Stephen Chamberlain (52), died after being struck by the vehicle while out running in Cambridgeshire on Saturday.