Mike Lynch admitted to fears he'd 'die' one month before Brit billionaire went missing after yacht sinks in Sicily

British tech tycooon Mike Lynch expressed fears he would die just a month before he went missing after a yacht he was aboard capsized during a severe storm off the coast of Sicily.

Lynch is believed to be among the 22 people thrown into the water when the yacht , named the Bayesian, overturned amid harsh conditions on Monday morning.

In an interview with the NY Post last month, Lynch revealed his fear that he might die in jail before being cleared of fraud charges related to the multi-billion dollar sale of his software company. He was acquitted of all charges last month concerning the $9 billion sale of his software firm to a major U.S. technology corporation.

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The 59-year-old had been extradited to the United States to stand trial, where he faced a potential 25-year prison sentence. In his first interview after his acquittal, Lynch shared with The Times that his health issues made him fear he wouldn't survive imprisonment. "I had to say goodbye to everything and everyone because I didn’t know if I’d ever be coming back," Lynch said. "If this had gone the wrong way, it would have been the end of my life as I know it in any sense,” he added.

Lynch is a well-known figure in both the U.K. and the U.S. Starting his career in IT, he co-founded Autonomy in 1996 and built it into one of the U.K.'s leading tech firms before selling it to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion in 2011, reportedly netting him around $647.4 million. His success in the tech industry earned him the nickname "Britain's Bill Gates," but it also led to legal challenges in both the U.K. and the U.S.

The sale of Autonomy was surrounded by fraud allegations, leading to civil litigation in the U.K. before his extradition to the U.S. in March to face further charges. His trial in San Francisco resulted in an acquittal of 15 charges, including conspiracy and wire fraud, after accusations that he had inflated Autonomy's value.

After the 2011 sale, Lynch founded the venture capital firm Invoke Capital, which owned shares in the cybersecurity company Darktrace.

On Monday morning, Lynch was aboard the Bayesian when it capsized during a violent storm off the coast of Sicily. The yacht, reportedly owned by Bacares, sank approximately 164 feet below the surface after being struck by the storm, which allegedly included a tornado.

Among those thrown into the water were a mother and her 1-year-old son, who were later rescued. By Monday afternoon, 15 people had been saved, but six remained missing, and one person, a chef of Canadian origin living in Antigua, was found dead.

The yacht was reportedly still docked at the harbor when it capsized. As of Monday afternoon, the investigation into the incident and the search for the missing persons were urgently underway.