Man Accused Of Fraud Along With Tech Tycoon, Who Went Missing After Luxury Yacht Capsized, Dies In Accident

This picture shows the UK's vessel Bayesan, left, and the Dutch sailboat Sir Robert Baden Powell at anchor off the Sicilian village of Porticello near Palermo, in southern Italy. (Image: AP Photo)

Stephen Chamberlain, key figure in the Autonomy trial, was killed in a car accident. The incident occurred days before Lynch vanished at sea.

Stephen Chamberlain, a co-defendant in the recent US trial involving missing UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch, died following a weekend accident in eastern England, police confirmed on Tuesday.

The accident, in which Chamberlain was hit by a car while reportedly jogging, happened on Saturday, just two days before Lynch and his teenage daughter went missing after their yacht capsized off Sicily.

The pair are among six people unaccounted for following the accident, in which the British-flagged Bayesian was struck by a waterspout — a sort of mini tornado — early Monday.

Chamberlain, 52, was the former vice president of finance at Autonomy, the software company Lynch founded in 1996.

The pair were acquitted by a United States court in June of a raft of fraud charges after prosecutors accused them of a massive scheme linked to the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard.

They had faced lengthy jail sentences if convicted.

In a statement, Cambridgeshire Police named Chamberlain as the pedestrian victim of a “collision” in an eastern English village, noting that he had subsequently died in hospital.

It added the driver of the car involved, a 49-year-old woman from a village in Buckinghamshire, southeast England, remained at the scene and was “assisting with enquiries”.

Chamberlain’s family said in a statement released through police that he was “a much-loved husband, father, son, brother and friend”.

“He was an amazing individual whose only goal in life was to help others in any way possible,” it added.

“He made a lasting impression on everyone who had the privilege of knowing him. He will be deeply missed but forever in the hearts of his loved ones.”

Chamberlain worked at Autonomy from 2005 until leaving in 2012. He later worked as chief operating officer for cybersecurity firm Darktrace.

Referencing his US legal battle on his LinkedIn page, Chamberlain called it “Silicon Valley’s largest fraud case”.

He noted he had “operated as full-time member of legal team and worked tirelessly to prove my innocence”.

In a statement released to various UK media outlets, Chamberlain’s US-based lawyer Gary Lincenberg described his client as a “courageous man” with “unparallelled integrity”.

“Our dear client and friend Steve Chamberlain was fatally struck by a car on Saturday while out running,” he said, adding: “We deeply miss him.”

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed - AFP)