Erik Fleming, one of the five arrested in the drug overdose case of late Friends actor Matthew Perry, was once a filmmaker. The Hollywood Reporter claims Erik, who was a middleman in the ketamine scheme that led to Matthew's death, even directed Scarlett Johansson in a 1999 movie. (Also Read: Matthew Perry was 'killed' by his aide and doctors? ‘That moron…,' disturbing texts and details emerge after arrest)
Who is Erik Fleming?
Erik helmed the 1999 children's fantasy comedy My Brother the Pig, which starred Scarlett and Eva Mendes. In the same year, he directed the road movie, Tyrone, starring Coolio and Kevin Connolly, who later broke out with his recurring role in the show Entourage. Erik was also a producer – he backed the inaugural season of the reality show The Surreal Life (2003), which featured Cory Feldman, Gabrielle Carteris, Vince Neil and MC Hammer. Later, he started an unsuccessful production company Rich Hippie with Sydney Holland.
Update in Matthew Perry case
Five people, including his personal assistant and two doctors, have been charged in connection with Matthew's death in what prosecutors called a “broad underground criminal network” dedicated to getting the Friends star the powerful surgical anaesthetic that killed him.
The doctors preyed on Matthew's history of addiction in the final months of his life last year to provide him with ketamine in amounts they knew were dangerous, U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said as he announced the charges Thursday. “They knew what they were doing was wrong,” Estrada said. "They knew what they were doing was risking great danger to Mr. Perry. But they did it anyway.”
{{/usCountry}}The doctors preyed on Matthew's history of addiction in the final months of his life last year to provide him with ketamine in amounts they knew were dangerous, U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said as he announced the charges Thursday. “They knew what they were doing was wrong,” Estrada said. "They knew what they were doing was risking great danger to Mr. Perry. But they did it anyway.”
{{/usCountry}}Matthew died in October last year due to a ketamine overdose and prosecutors said he received several injections on the day he died from his live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who found Perry dead later that day and was the first to talk to investigators.
Perry had been receiving regular ketamine infusion treatments for depression — in amounts not nearly enough to account for his death — from his regular doctors, who were not among those charged, authorities said. When those doctors refused to give him more, he went in desperation to others.