M/T Brillante Virtuoso was a Greek-owned, Liberian-flagged suezmax tanker damaged beyond repair as part of an insurance fraud, which involved a faked hijacking by Yemenis posing as Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden on 6 July 2011.

David Mockett, a British marine shipping surveyor and consultant who was investigating the incident, was reported to have believed that the attack on the Brillante Virtuoso was carried out by a criminal gang as part of an insurance fraud.

A book on the events surrounding the ship by Bloomberg reporters Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel, entitled Dead in the Water: A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy, was published in 2022.

[8] David Mockett, a British marine shipping surveyor and consultant, who was investigating the incident, was reported to have believed that the attack on Brillante Virtuoso was carried out by a criminal gang as part of an insurance fraud.

Co-conspirators included the master and chief engineer of the vessel, the local salvors, Poseidon Salvage (in particular Vassilios Vergos), and the hired "pirates," who were in fact present or former members of the Yemeni coast guard or navy.

[12] Veteran Bloomberg journalists Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel built upon their 2017 article[1] to publish a book, Dead in the Water: A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy.