Matthew Perry wanted to be remembered as more than just Chandler from Friends, and while he made a difference when he was alive by speaking so openly about his issues with substance abuse, it sounds like his death could have an impact too, as the investigation could expose drug dealing in Hollywood. Authorities continue to look into how Perry procured the large amount of ketamine that was in his system when he drowned, and mail fraud may be involved.
The investigation into Matthew Perry’s drowning continues eight months after the actor was found dead in his hot tub. Authorities have been questioning his acquaintances, even seizing a laptop and phone from Charlie Sheen’s ex-wife Brooke Mueller, who has reportedly been cooperating with the investigation and remains “adamant" she had nothing to do with Perry’s death. One avenue that’s being looked into, according to former CIA and FBI special agent Tracy Walder, is mail fraud, as she said there’s been an explosion in drug rings sending prescriptions through the mail. Walder told Page Six:
Using the mail to commit a crime is more common than you think. People pay a heap of money to buy drugs… say, someone gets a legal prescription for ketamine and maybe has a $20 copay on insurance, then decides to sell the prescription for $10k because this junkie needs it and they know he has the money. There is big money to be made. There are whole networks, it’s really disturbing. It’s now easier to get drugs by mail than fake an identity.
Mail fraud is a federal offense, and the agencies handling the investigation into Mattew Perry’s death — the Los Angeles Police Department, US Drug Enforcement Administration and US Postal Inspection Service — are allegedly preparing to file charges against multiple people who may have been involved. Those charges could include involuntary manslaughter, Walder said, explaining:
Intent is going to be the question. They obviously knew what they were doing was wrong [by drug dealing]. However, did they actively know that by procuring this it would kill him?
Mail fraud is just one means by which Matthew Perry could have gotten the ketamine that was found in his system, Walder said, pointing out that often people will pay friends to give them their prescription. Either way, no murder charges are expected to be filed, as Perry is presumed to have taken the ketamine himself.
The Whole Nine Yards actor was reportedly receiving ketamine treatments around the time of his death, but an autopsy ruled out that the drugs he’d taken could have been from his last treatment, which reportedly took place a week and a half before his October 28, 2023, passing.
Matthew Perry admitted to having abused ketamine in his memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, which came out a year before he died. He described it as feeling like he’d been “hit in the head with a giant happy shovel” and said “they might as well have called it ‘Matty.’”
It sounds like the authorities are prepared to hold multiple people accountable for supplying Matthew Perry with the drugs that reportedly led to his death, and possibly expose some of Hollywood’s seedy drug dealing methods.
