No criminal charges will be brought in the accidental drug overdose death of Prince, federal prosecutors said today.
Prosecutors also announced that Michael T. Schulenberg, the Minnesota doctor who prescribed an opioid painkiller for Prince a week before the musician’s 2016 death, has agreed to pay $30,000 to settle civil charges that he wrote an illegal prescription.
Prince died of an accidental fentanyl overdose in his Paisley Park estate April 21, 2016.
Carver County Attorney Mark Metz told reporters today that Prince thought he was taking Vicodin to manage pain but unknowingly took counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl.
"Prince had no idea he was taking a counterfeit pill that could kill him," Metz said.
Metz said law enforcement was unable to determine who provided the counterfeit Vicodin laced with fentanyl that killed Prince despite "intensive investigation."
Schulenberg, who denies any liability, violated the Controlled Substances Act when he had illegally written a prescription for Prince in someone else’s name, federal prosecutors said today in official settlement documents obtained by ABC News.
“Dr. Schulenberg prescribed Schedule 2 controlled substances in the name of an individual knowing that the controlled substances were intended to be used by another individual,” U.S. Attorney Greg Brooker said. “As licensed professionals, doctors are held to a high level of accountability in their prescribing practices, especially when it comes to highly addictive painkillers.”