A prosecutor says five people have been charged in connection with Matthew Perry’s death from a ketamine overdose last year, including the actor’s assistant and two doctors.
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada announced the charges Thursday, saying the doctors supplied Perry with a large amount of ketamine and even wondered in a text message how much the former “Friends” star would be willing to pay.
“These defendants took advantage of Mr. Perry’s addiction issues to enrich themselves. They knew what they were doing was wrong,” Estrada said. “In this case we are not talking about legitimate Ketamine treatment, we are talking about two doctors who abused the trust they had, abused their licenses to put another person’s life at risk.”
Federal agents served several warrants across Southern California in connection with Perry's accidental death last year, law enforcement sources told NBC4's I-Team.
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox.> Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
Perry was 54 when he was found unresponsive in the swimming pool at his home in the Pacific Palisades area and was pronounced dead by paramedics.
The LA County Medical Examiner concluded Perry's death on Oct. 28, 2023 was the result of the acute effects of the drug ketamine, and listed contributing factors of drowning, coronary artery disease, and the effects of buprenorphine, a drug used to treat opioid use disorder.
U.S. & World
LAPD detectives and agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the US Postal Inspection Service have been investigating the source of the ketamine.
Perry had been undergoing ketamine infusion therapy to treat depression and anxiety. Still, his last session with his doctors-of-record took place more than a week prior to his death.
The Medical Examiner noted the ketamine in Perry's system, "could not be from that infusion therapy, since ketamine's half-life is 3 to 4 hours, or less."
This article will be updated as more information becomes available.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
