LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Christopher Nolan's highly-anticipated new film 'Oppenheimer' has hit the screens across the globe on Friday, July 21. Starring Cillian Murphy in the lead role, the film revolves around the life of J Robert Oppenheimer, who was the key scientist in the creation of the atomic bomb in the 1940s. Ahead of the release of the film, a bizzare claim surfaced on social media that alleged that the director reportedly has a third brother named Matthew Nolan, who was accused of being a fugitive "hitman" working under the codename, "Oppenheimer."
On Thursday, July 20, Twitter user @/Srirachachau highlighted the rumor on the platform, writing, "Learning that Christopher Nolan's fugitive hitman brother's codename is "Oppenheimer" is actually what turned me around on him entirely as an artist, immediately made me wanna revisit everything." They further added, "Why does he keep making movies about crime and losing your family? Because his brother is a fugitive." The user also clarified that the brother in question is Nolan's older sibling, Matthew, not his younger brother, screenwriter Jonathan.
Who is Christopher Nolan's brother Matthew Nolan?
Matthew is reportedly filmmaker Nolan's older brother and an alleged fugitive. According to Newsweek, Matthew Nolan was arrested and charged with the murder of accountant Robert Cohen in Costa Rica in 2009. The American financer's brutally battered body was reportedly found near the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica in 2005. A man named Luis Alonso Douglas Mejia was initially convicted of the murder that same year.
However, extradition documents revealed that Matthew was named as a "hired killer" in the case. "Costa Rica contends that Mejia contacted the accused [Nolan] and for a still undetermined amount of money, hired his services, both of them planning the manner in which they would deprive the victim of his freedom, in order to later murder him," court documents obtained by the official website of Case Texts revealed.
Some reports suggest that Matthew was arrested and imprisoned in Chicago after Costa Rica initiated extradition proceedings before the former attempted a bizarre escape using an improvised rope made with tied-together bed sheets. In 2009, Costa Rica applied for Matthew to be extradited from the US but remained unsuccessful in their attempt. Matthew also continued to deny any involvement in Cohen's kidnapping or death.
According to the Daily Mail, Matthew is currently 53 years old and is far removed from the Hollywood circuit, unlike his brothers. He is currently working as a property dealer in Chicago and is reportedly married to a wealthy American woman named Erika. The pair reportedly tied the knot in a lavish ceremony and are also parents to two sons named Peter and Parker. Christopher and Jonathan Nolan have never spoken about their elder brother in public.
Is Matthew Nolan really a hired hitman codenamed 'Oppenheimer'?
As per information provided to the US District Court, Cohen worked as an accountant for Florida millionaire gem dealer Robert Breska, the Daily Mail reported. The latter was reportedly sentenced to four years in jail after being exposed as a drug trafficker in the 1980s. When a large sum of Breska's money went missing, he reportedly blamed Cohen despite allegations that the latter's Costa Rican business partner Mario Quintana stole the amount.
Court documents suggest that Cohen believed Breska "is capable of putting my life in danger" and said that "if anything were to happen to me, Mr Breska would be the person responsible." The court reportedly heard that Breska allegedly brought Matthew to recover his lost money and introduced him to Cohen in the process. Documents revealed that Matthew called himself "Matthew McCall Oppenheimer" at the time in order to make Cohen believe that he was scion of the Oppenheimer diamond family.
Costa Rican investigators told the US court that Matthew took the codename to hide his real occupation as an alleged "hired killer." They mentioned that Cohen and Matthew met in March 2005 in Costa Rica, where the latter also met hotel bellboy Mejia, who was initially convicted in Cohen's kidnap and murder. Witnesses claimed that they saw Cohen and Matthew together in San Jose.
Authorities claimed that Mejia held Cohen captive before he and Matthew allegedly "tortured" the victim and damaged his internal organs, causing a "massive haemorrhage and resulted in death." During Matthew's extradition hearing, Judge Michael T Mason noted that "there is competent evidence that Nolan continued his efforts to locate Breska's assets following Cohen's death." While Matthew walked free until 2009, he was eventually captured by FBI agent Pablo Araya, who trapped him after discovering Matthew was set to attend his own bankruptcy hearing in Chicago.
"I grabbed him after he had eluded me for one or two years, and when I arrested him his words to me were, 'You would never have got me if it wasn't for the bankruptcy.' But it was his greed that got him – because of his bankruptcy," Araya said at the time. Matthew was eventually arrested and sent to Chicago's Metropolitan Correctional Center but Judge Mason refused to extradite Matthew on kidnapping and murder charges, ruling that Costa Rica could not submit sufficient evidence that proved Matthew was a "person who kills."
"I do not know how he paid for his defence. He was going through bankruptcy. Someone paid for a high-powered attorney. The Costa Rica extradition request was not up to the legal standards required and it took a good lawyer to see that and the good lawyer fought it and prevailed," Araya said about Matthew escaping extradition. However, even after the court ultimately approved Matthew's extradition on false passport charges, Costa Rican authorities abandoned their request and released Matthew in 2010.
Matthew's lawyer, Andrea Gambino, previously said that he is "innocent of the charges levelled against him by the government of Costa Rica." She also mentioned that the US courts had concluded that the Costa Rican extradition request contained an "excessive amount of sheer speculation, inconsistent statements and typographical and/or translation errors."
Therefore, while it cannot be said if Matthew is a "hitman" or "hired killer" as he was only accused and never found guilty of the charges, it can be believed that he did operate under the codename "Oppenheimer" at some point. Court documents previously revealed that testimony and email records have reportedly shown Matthew referring to himself as "MM McCall-Oppenheimer." However, he was never convicted of being a hitman in connection to Cohen's murder despite the accusations.
