Just under ten weeks ago, 59-year-old Mike Lynch, who died Monday after the sinking of his super-yacht Bayesian off the coast of Sicily, was on trial in San Francisco on 17 charges of fraud. He was almost guaranteed to receive a 25-year sentence.
He was terrified that he would die in a U.S. prison, not because he was guilty—he had spent 13 years and roughly $35 million on legal fees arguing his innocence—but because it’s almost unheard of in the U.S. to win a case against the American Justice Department. He was nonetheless acquitted. His chances of winning the case were put at 0.5%.
