EXCLUSIVE: Christopher Nolan's Brother Matthew Was Suspect in Escape Plot
Christopher Nolan's brother Matthew was a suspect in an elaborate escape plot while held in federal custody.
Sept. 1 2026, Published 8:00 a.m. ET
Celebrated Oscar-winning director Christopher Nolan, whose latest blockbuster, The Odyssey, is expected to garner him even more glory, that he has a secret older brother who was an accused international hitman who tried to escape from prison, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Matthew Nolan, 57, is just a year older than the director, and their younger sibling – producer Jonathan Nolan – is 50. While all three attended elite English schools, Matthew ran into deep financial difficulties in his failed career as a Chicago-based property developer, before filing for bankruptcy in 2009.
Judge Rejected Extradition Over Murder Case
Costa Rican police claimed Matthew Nolan worked with Luis Alonso Douglas Mejia in the alleged Robert Cohen kidnapping plot.
The same year, a Costa Rican judge signed off on an extradition request for the older Nolan on shocking charges of aggravated kidnapping, use of a false document and aggravated homicide.
Costa Rican police claimed Nolan had been hired by a gem trader named Robert Breska "to kidnap and torture" 63-year-old American citizen Robert Cohen – an accountant whose body was found in 2005 in the Central American country.
Local cops claimed Matthew was working with Costa Rican hood Luis Alonso Douglas Mejia in the plot and that they forced Cohen into a car that Nolan had rented.
Mejia was tried and convicted of murder, but an American judge refused to extradite the American back to Costa Rica, saying Matthew's connection to the case was "unsupported and unsubstantiated."
Nolan's Daring Jailbreak Plot Exposed
A U.S. judge rejected Nolan's extradition in the Robert Cohen case, calling his alleged connection 'unsupported and unsubstantiated.'
But the judge did approve Matthew's extradition for using a fake British passport to open a bank account in Costa Rica.
Nolan was arrested in 2009 and held in Chicago's notorious Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), where he was discovered to have plotted a daring escape.
MCC guards "recovered approximately 31 feet of braided roping material, a similarly braided harness, a metal clip from a pen cap, and a broken piece of a razor blade hidden in the defendant's bar of soap," according to court documents.
Christopher Pleaded for Brother's Leniency
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Christopher Nolan wrote letters on his brother Matthew's behalf in 2010 in an effort to avoid a lengthier sentence.
In an effort to avoid a lengthier sentence for his brother, the famous director began writing letters on Matthew's behalf in 2010, saying, "I believe that the shame and hardship his incarceration has brought [him] means that his punishment has already been substantial," Christopher wrote.
Matthew later pleaded guilty to the escape attempt and was jailed for 14 months and was released because he had already spent that long behind bars. He then served two years under supervised release.
He was never extradited to Costa Rica, but a spokesperson for the Costa Rican Public Ministry said: "This evidence that the U.S. judge considered was insufficient to link Mr. Nolan with the crimes committed against Mr. Cohen, is the same evidence used to condemn Mr. Mejia here in Costa Rica."
