In the Matthew Perry overdose death inquiry, five persons were arrested, including a local physician and the actor’s live-in aide.
Then there was Erik Fleming, the TV star’s “acquaintance,” who was charged with acting as a middleman in the deadly ketamine scam.
The Department of Justice described Fleming’s conduct as those of a drug dealer who collaborated with Perry’s assistant and Jasveen Sangha, the so-called Ketamine Queen. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, “after discussing prices with [co-defendant Kenneth] Iwamasa, Fleming coordinated the drug sales with Sangha, and brought cash from Iwamasa to Sangha’s stash house in North Hollywood to buy vials of ketamine.” On October 24, 2023, four days before Perry’s murder, Fleming told the assistant that the ketamine was “on its way to our girl,” referring to Sangha.
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On August 8, Fleming, 54, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution resulting in death. He admitted to distributing 50 vials of ketamine, half of which were delivered four days before Perry’s death. In his federal prosecution, Fleming faces a maximum sentence of 25 years.
Fleming did not return The Hollywood Reporter’s request for comment.
While Fleming is listed in the DOJ document as “of Hawthorne,” he was once more actively associated with Hollywood. He was a director once, with Scarlett Johansson and Eva Mendes starring in his 1999 children’s fantasy comedy My Brother the Pig, and he produced the first season of reality show The Surreal Life in 2003, which starred Corey Feldman, Gabrielle Carteris, Vince Neil, and MC Hammer. Fleming directed and produced Tyrone, a 1999 road trip film starring Coolio and Kevin Connolly, who later rose to prominence in Entourage.
Fleming also co-founded Rich Hippie Productions with Sydney Holland, one of Sumner Redstone’s two live-in girlfriends who inherited tens of millions of dollars before his death and whose legal maneuverings resulted in the ViacomCBS merger and, possibly, Paramount Global’s more recent difficulties. (She has since left for San Diego.)
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According to a civil complaint filed by Redstone in 2016, the ill media tycoon spent an unspecified amount of money to finance Rich Hippie. Fleming became president of production in 2013.
“With his creative vision, experience and extensive contacts,” Holland, who was then calling himself CEO, told THR at the session, “he is incredibly capable of executing our mission to develop and produce thoughtful and entertaining, quality projects that appeal to a broad range of audiences.” However, Rich Hippie never created many such productions. Its most noteworthy announced project, about a Native American community’s battle with drug culture, which they executive produced alongside Natalie Portman, had a limited theatrical release and a low box office.
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