Captain Sentenced for Motorboat Crash That Killed U.S. CEO and Mom of 2 Adrienne Vaughan off Italy’s Coast

The captain of a speedboat involved in a deadly crash off Italy’s Amalfi Coast in August 2023 has been sentenced, according to a report.

On Friday, Nov. 21, Elio Persico, 32, received a prison term of four years and nine months for manslaughter after requesting a plea bargain, his attorney Liberato Mazzola told AFP, per CBS News.

Adrienne Vaughan, CEO of the U.S. division of publishing company Bloomsbury, died at 45 after being thrown from a 9-meter motorboat during the collision. She was on board with her husband and their two children when the speedboat struck a 45-meter vessel named the Tortuga, The Guardian and CNN reported at the time.

CBS News reported that Persico tested positive for cocaine and alcohol following the incident.

A witness on the larger boat described the sudden impact. “The vessel was going straight, and so was the hull,” bartender Pietro Iuzzolino told Corriere del Mezzogiorno shortly after the crash. “Then suddenly it turned 180 degrees: there was a collision, and I heard a very loud bang. I saw the woman in the water, supported by her children and husband … It was terrible.”

After Vaughan fell overboard, she was struck by the speedboat’s propeller, according to The Guardian. She was pulled from the water and pronounced dead at the scene, the Associated Press reported. Vaughan’s daughter was also thrown into the sea but was not injured, per CBS News. Her husband was hospitalized with a shoulder injury.

Italian media reported that the speedboat had been traveling toward Positano when it crashed, per CBS News.

In the days after the collision, Salerno prosecutor Marinella Guglielmotti told CNN that the captain of the Tortuga tested negative for substances and was not under investigation. She added that none of the roughly 80 passengers on the Tortuga were hurt.

Bloomsbury leaders confirmed Vaughan’s death in a statement to the AP at the time, calling her “a leader of dazzling talent and infectious passion,” and praising her deep commitment to authors and readers. They added that she was an extraordinary person whose impact would be long remembered.