Any day now, charges will be brought in the investigation into Matthew Perry’s ketamine death. An attorney says that anyone found responsible for providing the drugs that killed the star will be subject to the full force of the law.
Perry was found unconscious in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023. His autopsy showed that he had been severely affected by ketamine and had drowned.
The 54-year-old actor, who is best known for playing Chandler Bing on Friends, was found to have the same amount of ketamine in his body as a hospital patient who was under general anesthesia.
Perry was open and honest about his struggles with addiction for many years. In the months before he died, he was also open about getting ketamine infusion therapy to treat his depression.
The star’s last therapy session, on the other hand, was a week and a half before he died, and ketamine leaves the body within hours of use, so the treatment did not cause his sudden death.
There was a criminal investigation started by the Los Angeles Police Department in December to find out how Perry got the drugs that killed him.
It’s been nine months since the LAPD, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the US Postal Inspection Service worked together to find the supply chain again.
Some of the detectives working on the case also looked into the death of rapper Mac Miller from an overdose in 2018. He died after taking an opioid that was mixed with fentanyl.
Tre Lovell, a seasoned entertainment lawyer, told The U.S. Sun that he thinks arrests are coming soon and that more than one person will likely be arrested.
Lovell also said that no one will be spared if they are accused of doing something wrong, even though Perry’s death was ruled an accident.
Lovell said, “Charges are coming any day now.” “This investigation has been going on for a long time, and now leaks are starting to come out. It’s likely that these leaks were planned.”
“[Anonymous law enforcement sources] are not going to leak stuff unless they intend on indicting, otherwise they’ll get egg on their face.”
A police officer with knowledge of the case told PEOPLE in June that the Perry investigation was “nearing its conclusion” and that “multiple people” could be charged.
The source said that the US Attorney’s Office is the only one who can decide if charges should be brought.
Lovell says that doctors who may have written Perry an illegal prescription, drug dealers who may have sold him the ketamine illegally, and friends or coworkers who helped with any illegal deal could all be charged.
“There are several ways to hold someone criminally responsible,” he said. “There is the distribution of a controlled substance, an illegal act that reached the level of criminal negligence or recklessness, and even in some cases involuntary manslaughter and mail fraud.”
“Those cases are tough […] anyone who overdoses did it on their own free will, so there’s a very high standard for criminal responsibility.”
“They have to get warrants, they have to get subpoenas, they have to get private information from his physician, and this takes a lot of time.”
Accused people could get anywhere from four to more than twenty years in prison, depending on what charges, if any, the prosecutors bring.
Lovell says Perry’s fame will push the police to use all the tools they have to bring the case to a successful conclusion.
This is happening because there is a big plan to stop this kind of drug trafficking, with fentanyl at the top of the list. There are also a lot of other controlled substances out there, like ketamine.”
“The government, both at the federal and state levels, has a duty to go after drug dealing like this when there are overdoses, so they’re going after the suppliers. Part of their strategy is to keep people from doing it again.”
“They want to stop people from doing bad things in the future, and the best way to stop someone from selling drugs is to stop them from doing it in the first place.”
“When there is a well-known victim and the press is watching, it’s the government’s chance to show that giving drugs to people has very bad consequences.”
“You can be charged with both drug distribution and murder.”
“And they’ll want to make that clear in this investigation.”
WHAT MUELLER SAYS
Perry’s friend Brooke Mueller, whom he met in rehab, is the only public figure who has been linked to the investigation so far.
Mueller has been the subject of several search warrants in the past few months.
The actress’s sober living home in Los Angeles was searched by police in May, and her iPhone and laptop were taken.
Mueller is said to be fully cooperating with the investigation. She used to be married to Charlie Sheen.
A person who knows about the situation told InTouch, “She has hired lawyers and has met with police several times since they showed up at her sober living home with a search warrant.”
“She won’t say anything about what’s going on. But the police had to know something to get a warrant and show up like that.
“It’s hard to say or know for sure what her part was in Perry’s death, but she’s adamant she had nothing to do with it.”
For police to get a warrant to search Mueller’s home, Lovell agreed, there had to be strong evidence that a crime might have happened.
“To seize a phone and search a house, you have to get a warrant, and to get a warrant you have to have probable cause,” he said.
If you can show a judge that there is likely a crime going on, then you have probable cause. If they were able to do that, there’s a good chance that person is a person of interest.
“We don’t know for sure, but if they’ve gone to those lengths and they have enough evidence to get probable cause for a warrant, then that person is likely suspected of something serious.”
Kayti Edwards, one of Perry’s ex-girlfriends, told The U.S. Sun in June that Mueller and Perry were lovers at one point.
Mueller has not been accused of any wrongdoing in public.
Someone was asked to comment, but nothing has been returned yet.
In a statement from July, Charlie Sheen’s lawyer played down Mueller’s role in the case.
“I think Ms. Mueller’s past actions may have put her in a position to give the police investigating Mr. Perry’s death some incidental, anecdotal background.” Greg J. Pedrick said, “Nothing else.”
SECOND CELEBRITY INVOLVED IN MYSTERY?
As reported by InTouch in July, the LAPD was looking into whether or not a second celebrity friend of Perry’s had anything to do with his death.
The second celebrity has not been named, but a source said that even though Perry and the unnamed star said they were sober, they were actually “walking pharmacies” who talked about their struggles with addiction and staying sober late at night.
The source said that Perry and the unknown star were seen in a picture together at the office of a doctor who is known to prescribe ketamine.
The source said that Perry and the second celebrity might have “helped” each other by sending each other to their own doctors when they ran out of drugs.
It’s likely that the police would find conversations about drugs and “How can I get extra?” on both of their phones, but especially on the second celebrity’s, since she doesn’t delete her text messages. “Like, ‘Oh, come see my doctor if you need more,'” the source said.
They also said, “It will not look good for the famous person.”
Lovell thinks that the police will try to charge as many people as possible at first and offer deals to less serious offenders who will “flip” and testify against the main player or players.
“It looks like this investigation is coming to an end,” he said. “They’re going to try to charge as many people as they can.”
“Then, if there are three or four people, you can charge each one and give them two deals so they choose the bigger one.”
But they want to get as many people in the net as possible because that’s how they build their case. They don’t want to charge anyone too soon.
“It’s going to be very interesting to find out who is involved in all this.”
Fortune was spread out.
In the hours before he died, Perry was seen playing pickleball.
The U.S. Sun reported in July that Perry’s personal wealth was worth just over $1.5 million at the time of his death.
His will named many people as beneficiaries, and that money was supposed to go into a trust that was already said to be worth more than $120 million.
Perry set up his “Alvy Singer Living Trust” in 2009, named after the character played by Woody Allen in the movie Annie Hall.
He gave his father, John Perry, his mother, Suzanne Morrison, his half-sister Caitlin Morrison, and an ex-girlfriend, Rachel Dunn, the money from his will.
The U.S. Sun got copies of court documents filed in June that show his personal property was worth more than expected.
Lisa Ferguson, who is in charge of Perry’s estate, filed an inventory and appraisal form that showed a $1,596,914.47 balance.
The house in Pacific Palisades where Ferguson died is still in his name and hasn’t been put on the market yet.
According to sources who spoke to The U.S. Sun, work was being done on the house at the time of his death.
In May, a home in the Hollywood Hills that Perry bought before he died through his Alvy Singer, LLC went on the market for $5,195,000.
Perry was also renting a three-bedroom house with a view of Beverly Hills for $49,000 a month while the work was being done on his house in Pacific Palisades.
He has always been honest about his problems with drugs and alcohol.
In his memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, which came out in 2022, he was honest about his health problems and how hard it was for him to stay sober.