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Morgan Stanley<\/a> International chairman Jonathan Bloomer is among the missing after a tornado struck a luxury yacht off the coast of Sicily on Monday. Billionaire tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch<\/a>, dubbed the \u201cBritish Bill Gates,\u201d as well as his daughter and three others, are also missing and presumed dead.<\/p>\n The disaster came weeks after Lynch was acquitted in the U.S. after facing fraud charges. Bloomer\u2014who has served as Morgan Stanley\u2019s chair for almost eight years and is also the chair of insurance group Hiscox, according to his LinkedIn profile<\/a>\u2014played a small role in the trial.<\/p>\n Lynch, 59, founded software company Autonomy in 1996 and sold it to Hewlett-Packard in 2011 for $11 billion. HP<\/a> paid a 60% premium over Autonomy\u2019s stock price, but just one year after the blockbuster deal, HP reported an $8.8 billion write-down, attributing over $5 billion of that to inflated revenue data from Autonomy. Lynch was charged<\/a> with 16 counts of conspiracy and fraud, with one fraud charge later dismissed. In June, Lynch was acquitted of fraud and cleared of charges.<\/p>\n Bloomer, 70, served on Autonomy\u2019s audit committee and as a non-executive on the company\u2019s board in 2010. He alsotestified<\/a> during Lynch\u2019s trial, telling the court in May that Lynch was \u201cmore interested in the strategy, new products, new areas to look at, potential acquisitions,\u201d rather than looking at the financial side of the company.\u00a0<\/p>\n The trip aboard the Bayesian was a celebration following the decades-long trial, but Bloomer and Lynch were declared missing after high winds and a vortex of water struck and capsized the superyacht<\/a>. There were 22 passengers aboard the 180-foot sailing yacht, 15 of whom were rescued, and one who was declared dead. Italian emergency services brought Lynch\u2019s wife Angela Bacares, who owned the yacht, to safety. Bloomer\u2019s wife remains missing.<\/p>\n The Bayesian yacht accident has odd timing: It coincided with the death<\/a> of Lynch\u2019s co-defendant Stephen Chamberlain, who died after being hit by a car in Cambridgeshire, England, on Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic event,\u201d Hiscox CEO Aki Hussain said in a statement. \u201cOur thoughts are with all those affected, in particular our chair, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife Judy, who are among the missing, and with their family as they await further news from this terrible situation.\u201d<\/p>\n Hiscox senior independent director Colin Keogh will serve as interim chair, the company told Fortune<\/em>. Morgan Stanley did not respond to Fortune<\/em>\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n Prior to his tenure at Morgan Stanley and Hiscox, Bloomer was the CEO<\/a> of insurance company Prudential Financial; he was ousted in 2005. The timing of Bloomer\u2019s rising up the ranks was ill-timed, coinciding with the dotcom crash and 9\/11, which sent Prudential\u2019s share prices plummeting 40%.\u00a0<\/p>\n During that time, Bloomer proposed buying U.S. insurer American General, a move that was largely doomed<\/a> thanks to American International Group\u2019s bid for the company that topped Prudential\u2019s, as well as lack of investor confidence in the acquisition that sent Pludential\u2019s shares tanking. Bloomer had to backtrack on the move, but through the takeover proposal, exposed Prudential\u2019s relatively weak U.S. presence.<\/p>\n To make matters worse, Prudential\u2019s internet banking arm, Egg, fell short of expectations, but Bloomer couldn\u2019t find an adequate buyer. Prudential eventually sold Egg to Citigroup<\/a> for about $750 million in 2007, but the company estimated a $190 million operating loss from Egg, twice what was originally expected.<\/p>\n Investors\u2019 outcry reached a fever pitch in 2004, when Bloomer surprise-launched a $1.3 billion rights issue in an effort to expand the firm\u2019s UK business, despite assuaging concerns the company needed to raise more capital to do so. The CEO was ousted less than a year later and replaced with HBOS finance chief Mark Tucker. Bloomer called it<\/a> \u201cpart of the ups and downs of corporate life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have had to manage the company through difficult times and not everything has made us popular,\u201d he said at the time<\/a>. \u201cBut my job has been to lead a transformation and Prudential is now set fair to deliver further substantial growth and returns.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nBloomer\u2019s tumultuous career<\/strong><\/h2>\n