Clifford Chance partner wrote 'happily ever after' post before he went missing in yacht disaster
Emergency services are at the scene of a search for a missing boat in Porticello, southern Italy, Aug. 20. Rescue teams and divers returned to the site of a storm-sunken superyacht Tuesday to search for six people, including British tech magnate Mike Lynch and Clifford Chance partner Christopher J. Morvillo, who are thought to be still trapped in the hull 50 meters underwater. (Photo by Salvatore Cavalli/The Associated Press)
A partner at Clifford Chance and his wife are among six people who are missing after a superyacht sank off the Sicily coast during a storm Monday.
Ayla Ronald, a senior associate at Clifford Chance who’s based in London, was among 15 people who survived.
Business Insider, the New York Post, Law.com, Original Jurisdiction, CNN and the Associated Press have coverage.
A waterspout likely caused the yacht to sink, a Sicilian civil protection official told CNN.
Partner Christopher J. Morvillo, 59, was on the yacht with Mike Lynch, a client acquitted in June in a fraud case with Morvillo’s help. Lynch was accused of misrepresenting the financial health of his software company Autonomy when he sold it to the Hewlett Packard Co. in 2011.
Lynch and his daughter, Hannah Lynch, are among the missing.
Morvillo, who was based in New York City, wrote an “eerie” LinkedIn post in the months before the tragedy, according to the New York Post.
In the post, Morvillo thanked others who worked on the case. At the end, he thanked his family.
“None of this would have been possible without your love and support. I am so glad to be home,” he wrote. “And they all lived happily ever after.”
A co-defendant in the fraud case who was also acquitted, Stephen Chamberlain, was struck and killed while jogging Saturday, according to Gary Lincenberg, Chamberlain’s lawyer, who spoke with Business Insider.
“In the course of 48 hours, I can’t process what has happened, but both of our clients, as well as Chris and his wife, are gone,” Lincenberg told the publication.
Morville, a former federal prosecutor, told Law360 in June that he had represented Lynch for one-third of his 32-year legal career. He said he was looking forward to a little time off.
A Clifford Chance spokesperson gave this statement to Law.com: “We are in shock and deeply saddened by this tragic incident. Our thoughts are with our partner, Christopher Morvillo, and his wife, Neda, who are among the missing. 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. 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.”
