NY Lawyer Chris Morvillo & Wife Missing after Yacht Sinks off Sicily – What He Said to Daughters in Post before Trip

The expensive superyacht sank in the early hours of Monday morning, August 19, after an extreme storm. Search and rescue efforts have been underway since the accident.

However, reports state that investigators, unfortunately, are now presuming the missing victims are dead at this stage. They believe this to be the case because, reportedly, the six were trapped on the yacht as it became submerged underwater.

A spokesperson for the law firm Clifford Chance, where Christopher works, recently shared a statement about their colleague and his wife, expressing how sad and shocked they are.

“Our thoughts are with our Partner, Christopher Morvillo, and his wife Neda who are among the missing, and with their families,” expressed the spokesperson.

A mere two months before the Bayesian yacht tragedy, Christopher shared an extensive post on his LinkedIn account. The post was made in celebration of a law case verdict victory that Christopher and his partners managed to achieve.

After spotlighting all the people who helped him and his client win the case, Christopher acknowledged his beloved wife, Neda, and daughters, Sabrina and Sophia Morvillo, at the end of his post.

“And, finally, a huge thank you to my patient and incredible wife, Neda Morvillo, and my two strong, brilliant, and beautiful daughters […] None of this would have been possible without your love and support. I am so glad to be home. And they all lived happily ever after,” penned the doting husband and dad.

With Christopher’s extensive experience and background in representing individual and corporate clients in internal investigations, white-collar government investigations, and civil proceedings, he managed to acquit his client.

Aside from his recent representations in cases involving insider trading, securities fraud, accounting fraud, trade secret theft, and the like, Christopher has served as an Assistant US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

On the other hand, the Fordham University School of Law (JD) graduate’s wife, Neda, is a successful jeweler in New York City. She has her own jewelry brand called Neda Nassiri, under which she sells hand-crafted fine jewelry made in her New York City studio.

According to her website’s About page, Neda has been designing and hand-crafting jewelry for more than two decades.

“Often, Neda incorporates precious or semi-precious stones in her work, and some of her work features granulation or classical loop-in-loop chains, reflecting the inspiration of ancient Egyptian, Greek, Persian, and Roman jewelry,” reads a snippet of her bio.

The New York jewelry designer trained and honed her skills under the tutelage of master goldsmith Cecelia Bauer. Like Christopher’s law firm spokesperson, Cecelia recently spoke about her missing mentee.

According to a media outlet, Cecelia revealed that she had been in touch with Neda mere days before the Bayesian yacht tragedy. She had invited her protege to a luncheon, along with other jewelers, on the fateful day the yacht sank (Monday).

While some officials are still clinging to the hope that the missing six are keeping themselves alive with pockets of air 160 ft below the water’s surface, Cecelia believes otherwise.

“I’m totally shocked. I’m devastated because I can’t believe she’s one of the missing. It doesn’t look good…I would find it hard to believe that anyone has survived this long,” expressed the mentor.

Like Cecelia, many others who have been impacted by the yacht tragedy are also devastated. Among such people include Angela Bacares—the wife of the British billionaire whom Christopher managed to get acquitted, Mike Lynch.

Mike and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah Lynch, are part of the group of missing people. Recently, Angela shared her account of what happened on the day the Bayesian superyacht sank. She did so while continuing to wait for an update on the whereabouts of her husband and daughter.

Angela, who is in a wheelchair after having to walk on broken glass to escape the sinking $18 million (£14 million) yacht, recounted how she and Mike were woken up after feeling an unsteady shift onboard.

She told La Repubblica that they were stirred awake at 4 am on Monday, August 19, after she felt a “slight tilt” right before chaos ensued.

Initially, Angela and Mike were not fearful or worried. However, that soon changed after she got up from bed to investigate and was startled by the sound of glass shattering, which then prompted panic.

About an hour after Angela and Mike had woken up (5 am local time), the superyacht sank after the mast collapsed and the boat capsized. Reports state that there were a total of 22 passengers onboard.

Speaking to another outlet, Angela recounted how “everything was falling” around her. Adding to the intense fear she felt at that moment is the fact that she said she was nearly “carried away” before she managed to make it out to safety.

According to another outlet, since Angela’s narrow escape, she and other survivors of the yacht tragedy have been receiving assistance from a team of Palermo Health Authority and civil protection psychologists.

The survivors have also been given accommodation at the Domina Zagarella Hotel. Angela had been transferred to the hotel after receiving medical treatment at a hospital in Termini Imerese.

The yacht accident comes after Mike was extradited from the UK to the US in 2023, where he was under house arrest. A profile on the father of two from 2024 reveals he spent 13 months under house arrest in San Francisco while waiting for his trial on 17 conspiracy and wire fraud charges.

The charges were brought against him by the US Department of Justice and were later reduced to 15 charges. Mike, who has an estimated net worth of over $6 million (£500 million), would have faced 25 years in a US prison if he was convicted.

This picture painted a very grim reality for Mike, especially given the fact that he has medical issues. “I have various medical things that would have made it difficult to survive,” Mike previously disclosed.

While Mike managed to avoid jail time, he now faces another crisis, which is quite literally a matter of life and death, as he and his daughter are still missing.

We extend our prayers to Angela during this difficult time as she waits for positive news concerning her loved ones. Our deepest condolences and prayers also go out to the Morvillo family and others impacted by this horrific tragedy.