A top New York City lawyer and his jewelry designer wife are among the six still unaccounted for after the Bayesian superyacht capsized off the coast of Sicily on Monday morning.
Of the 22 people aboard the 184-foot luxury British vessel, the Bayesian, fifteen were rescued after it overturned amid bad weather conditions – one body was found, and lawyer Christopher Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo are among the six passengers still unaccounted for.
The Italian coast guard said the sailboat overturned sometime after 5 a.m. off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, where it was anchored. Ten crew members and 12 passengers, including British, American and Canadian nationalities were onboard.
Before becoming a partner at prestigious law firm Clifford Chance in New York City, 59-year-old Fordham graduate Morvillo was a former federal prosecutor who worked on the investigation of the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, according to his online bio. Currently, he specializes in cases involving insider trading and corporate fraud.
BRITISH TECH ENTREPRENEUR, AMERICANS AMONG MISSING AFTER YACHT SINKS OFF ITALIAN COAST, KILLING AT LEAST 1
Neda Morvillo and Chris Morvillo attend Summer Birthday Cocktails For Lawrence Kaplan at Tower 270 – Rooftop on June 21, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Patrick McMullan/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Morvillo most recently represented British tech tycoon billionaire Mike Lynch, the owner of the capsized Bayesian who is still missing along with his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, in a fraud trial. Lynch was accused of fraud related to Hewlett Packard’s acquisition of his company, Autonomy.
Morvillo, who owns residences in New York City and South Kent, celebrated Lynch’s June 6 acquittal on LinkedIn in one of his final social media posts before the luxury boat accident, eerily writing that his family would live “happily ever after.”
“A huge thank you to my patient and incredible wife, Neda Morvillo, and my two strong, brilliant and beautiful daughters, Sabrino Morvillo and Sophia Morvillo,” he wrote after thanking the legal team that helped in Lynch’s legal success.
YACHT EXPERT BREAKS DOWN LUXURY SUPERYACHT TRAGEDY AFTER BOAT CAPSIZES IN FREAK STORM: ‘ALWAYS LIMITS’
This picture taken at around 20.00gmt on Sunday, Aug. 18, 2024, shows the UK’s vessel Bayesian, left, and the Duch sailboat Sir Robert Baden Powell at anchor off the Sicilian village of Porticello near Palermo, in southern Italy. (Fabio La Bianca/Baia Santa Nicolicchia via AP)
Criminal defense lawyer and podcast host David Oscar Markus interviewed Morvillo last week, describing him as a “superstar lawyer” in a blog post.
“Chris dedicated over a decade of his career to obtaining justice for Mike Lynch,” Markus wrote. “He got it and then for this to happen…. it’s tough to find the right words.”
Lynch’s acquittal “end[ed] a 13-year legal battle, regarded as one of Silicon Valley’s biggest-ever fraud cases,” Clifford Chance wrote in a press release.
“The verdict closes the book on a relentless 13-year effort to pin HP’s well-documented ineptitude on Dr. Lynch,” the firm wrote. “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.”
At the end of the statement, Lynch hauntingly said that he was “looking forward to returning to the UK and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field.”
MORGAN STANLEY INTERNATIONAL CHAIRMAN, WIFE AND 4 OTHERS STILL MISSING AFTER LUXURY YACHT SINKS OFF SICILY
Emergency services carry a body bag after a sailboat sank in the early hours of Monday, off the coast of Porticello, near the Sicilian city of Palermo, Italy, August 19, 2024. (REUTERS/Igor Petyx)
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Clifford Chance wrote that they were “in shock” and “deeply saddened by the tragic incident,” and that their thoughts are with the Morvillo couple and their families.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Emergency and rescue services work near the scene where a sailboat sank in the early hours of Monday off the coast of Porticello, near the Sicilian city of Palermo, Italy, August 19, 2024. (REUTERS/Igor Petyx)
“Our utmost priority is providing support to the family as well as our colleague Ayla Ronald, who together with her partner, thankfully survived the incident,” the firm’s communication head Kane Dowsett wrote. “Our thoughts extend to the other passengers and crew and all those affected. We have no further comment at this time. We, and the families, ask that their request for privacy is honored during this period.”
Morvillo’s wife, Neda, owns a luxury jewelry line under her maiden name, Neda Nassiri. She has been designing and hand-crafting jewelry in New York for over two decades, per her website.
Fox News Digital’s Pilar Arias contributed to this report.
