Who is Chris Morvillo? Clifford Chance lawyer missing from Bayesian yacht that sunk in Sicily
CHRIS Morvillo is among a handful of people who have gone missing after a luxury yacht sank in a storm off Sicily.
The Bayesian was carrying 12 passengers and 10 crew when the boat sank. Here’s what we know about him.
Who is Chris Morvillo?
Christopher Morvillo is a prominent lawyer and partner at multinational law firm Clifford Chance.
Alongside Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, Morvillo is one of the six missing passengers.
Early in the search, it was revealed that UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter, Hannah, were also unaccounted for.
The 56-metre Bayesian was carrying 22 people including Brits, Americans and Canadians.
Fifteen people were rescued after the yacht capsized due to a heavy storm that caused waterspouts, or rotating columns of air and mist.
One body has been recovered, officials said.
Fire rescue crews reported that divers were unable to access the below-deck cabins because they were blocked by debris that had shifted during the violent storm that toppled the luxury sailboat early Monday.
Diver Marco Tilotta said there is a “world of objects” including furniture and debris obstructing the narrow stairs in front of the yacht cabins
The search still continues for the missing six, including his wife, Neda.
Morvillo had served as Steven Chamberlain and Lynch’s lawyer during a highly publicised corruption trial.
Lynch and Chamberlain were accused of fraud in the US in relation to the £8.6billion sale of his business Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
The attorney asked what the trial had been like for the Autonomy co-founder at the time.
According to the Daily Beast, Lynch said: “It’s surreal.”
“I’ve heard comments from people that just don’t paint the picture of the company that I and my colleagues and friends worked at for 15 years.”
However, it was revealed that Chamberlain had been killed in the road accident just days before as the search for the missing passengers continued.
According to his bio on the Clifford Chance website, Morvillo has extensive experience representing corporate and individual clients in white-collar government investigations.
From 1999 to 2005, Morvillo served as an assistant US attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Among other notable prosecutions and investigations, Morvillo assisted in the criminal investigation surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Morvillo was also one of the lead prosecutors on the successful 10-month counter-terrorism trial of defence attorney Lynne Stewart and her co-conspirators, one of the longest criminal trials in Southern District history.
The lawyer investigated, tried and handled appeals in a wide variety of criminal cases, including in the area of healthcare fraud, insurance fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and narcotics.
He also deals with related regulatory and civil proceedings, and internal investigations.
His wife Neda runs her own high-end jewellery line using her maiden name Neda Nassiri.
The Daily Mail reports that the couple have two daughters.
Sabrina, 27, is a voice actress, and 23 year-old Sophia studied a theatre course at Northwestern University.