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MYSTERIOUS details have emerged about the life of the fashion designer who was found dead on a yacht in the Hamptons.
Martha Nolan O’Slattara was going through a divorce and had been previously sued by a luxury sunglasses company when she died unexpectedly on August 5 at age 33.
The New York City entrepreneur was found dead on a boat docked at the ritzy Montauk Yacht Club in East Hampton on Long Island at around midnight after a man called 911, police said.
Witness recounted seeing a naked man who had been on the yacht screaming at people to help an unconscious Nolan, according to the New York Post.
But the belligerent man wasn’t her former husband, Sam Ryan, according to the Irish Independent.
Nolan, who was born in Ireland and moved to New York 10 years ago, filed for an agreed-upon divorce from Ryan earlier this year.
The divorce proceedings were continuing as recently as April 8, filings by the New York County Supreme Court said.
She was dating another man at the time of her death and staying with him in the Montauk area for the summer, the Independent reported.
However, her boyfriend wasn’t on the boat with her, despite the boat owner reportedly screaming, “That’s my girlfriend” as he tried to get some help.
Nolan had told her boyfriend she was at a business meeting that night, the Independent said.
In the hours before she died, she reportedly called her boyfriend and told him she was going to book an Uber and get home around 1 am.
“It was just her and the boat owner on the boat,” a source close to Nolan’s family told Irish outlet Extra.ie, adding that the man is in his 60s.
“She phoned her boyfriend and she told him she was just about to be picked up by an Uber.”
The source noted, “There is such a short timeline between when she made the call and when the 911 call was made.”
Nolan’s boyfriend hasn’t been identified, but they reportedly planned to get married.
“Martha and her boyfriend went to Ireland at Christmas. He met her family and getting married would have been the next step,” the source told Extra.ie.
Nolan, who founded East x East in 2021, often showcased a life of private jets and glamorous vacations on her social media accounts before her death.
But she faced legal battles throughout her rise in the fashion world.
2022 LAWSUIT
Nolan and East x East swimwear co-owner Dylan Grace were slapped with a lawsuit in April 2022, according to a court filing by Manhattan luxury sunglasses brand Out East Accessories.
The company accused the pair, two former Out East employees, of stealing $34,000 from the company’s bank account, along with the entire eyewear inventory, the complaint said.
Grace and Nolan allegedly changed the passwords belonging to the company owners and locked them out of their bank account, emails, and social media accounts, court records claimed.
Nolan denied all allegations that she “ransacked Out East,” officials said.
The case was settled in June 2022 and was dismissed the next month. The duo went on to launch East x East swimwear in 2023.
Police said there was no evidence of violence on Nolan’s body.
They haven’t ruled out foul play as the investigation continues into her cause of death.