Matthew Perry’s death: Criminal charges could come soon, says entertainment attorney

Warning: mention of drug use and death

It’s been 10 months since Friends star Matthew Perry passed away in his California home. Now, it has been revealed that the investigation into his death could be producing some answers very soon.

Criminal charges for Matthew Perry’s death could come “any day now”.

Back in October, 2023, Perry, 54, was found unresponsive in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home and an autopsy ruled his death was due to the acute effects of ketamine and drowning, with a criminal investigation launched in December to determine how he obtained the drugs.

Tre Lovell, a veteran entertainment attorney, told The US Sun: “Charges will be coming any day now. This investigation has been going on for a long time, and the leaks are starting to come out, which are probably intentional.

“[Anonymous law enforcement sources] are not going to leak stuff unless they intend on indicting, otherwise they’ll get egg on their face.

“There are several ways to impose criminal liability, either through the distribution of a controlled substance, an unlawful act that rose to criminal negligence or recklessness, and even in some cases involuntary manslaughter and mail fraud.

Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, Courteney Cox as Monica Geller and Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green in Friends, season one. Photo / Getty Images

“These cases are tough, when somebody overdoses, that’s an act of their own volition, so to impose criminal culpability there’s a very high standard.

“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.”

And Lovell believes the police are pursuing the case so aggressively in order to “deter future acts”.

He explained: “There’s a big policy now to attack this kind of drug distribution, with fentanyl at the top of the chain, and these other controlled substances that are floating around, like ketamine.

“The government - both at federal and state level - has a mandate to go after drug dealing like this where there are overdoses, so they’re going after the suppliers – and part of the reason for that strategy is deterrence.

“They want to deter future acts, and the best way to prevent someone from distributing drugs is deterring them from getting involved in the first place.

“Where there’s a high-profile victim, and the press is monitoring it, it’s the government’s opportunity to show there are severe consequences for supplying people drugs.

“Not only can you be liable for distributing a drug, you can also be liable for homicide.

“And they’ll want to make that clear in this investigation.”

Former CIA and FBI special agent Tracy Walder previously told Page Six multiple people could be charged, saying there has been an explosion in drug rings using mail fraud, sending prescription medication by post – a federal offence.