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The FBI is investigating the death of Jim Irsay, the former owner of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, as well as the recovery doctor who provided him with prescription pain pills and ketamine in the final months of his life, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post and two people with knowledge of the investigation.
A federal grand jury subpoena, reviewed by The Post, shows the agency is seeking records and information relating to Irsay’s death, his “substance (illegal and prescription) use,” and his “relationship with Dr. Harry Haroutunian,” a prominent addiction specialist based in California.
The subpoena was issued earlier this month from the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles. Federal agents visited Indianapolis for several days this month, according to two people with knowledge of the investigation, and interviewed multiple people who were close to Irsay over the final years of his life. These people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.
A spokeswoman for the FBI’s field office in Los Angeles did not immediately reply to a request for comment Thursday. The Beverly Hills Police Department, which initially investigated Irsay’s death, has not been contacted by the FBI, a department spokesman said.
Colts Chief Legal Officer Dan Emerson, in a phone interview Thursday, said the team is aware of the investigation but has not been served with a subpoena or contacted by the FBI.
“I do understand that there have been some subpoenas provided but not to me, the Colts or any of our current employees,” said Emerson, who declined to comment further.
Haroutunian, the recovery doctor, did not reply to messages this week seeking comment.
Irsay died in May, at 65, while vacationing at the Beverly Hills Hotel in California. Haroutunian was staying at the hotel and overseeing Irsay’s treatment. He signed the death certificate stating the cause was cardiac arrest caused by pneumonia and heart issues. No autopsy was performed, and Beverly Hills police closed their investigation into the death days later.
But in August, a Post investigation revealed that Irsay, who had publicly claimed to have kicked his addiction to pain pills, had secretly relapsed and was, in the final months of his life, receiving opioid pills and ketamine injections from Haroutunian in amounts that alarmed several people close to the longtime Colts owner.
The Post reviewed images of pill bottles that showed Haroutunian prescribed Irsay more than 200 opioid pills in the days before he suffered two overdoses in the span of 12 days in December 2023. Haroutunian later added ketamine to Irsay’s treatment regimen, according to four people who witnessed the Colts owner receiving injections.
“I dedicated 18 months of my life to try to care for him … as a brother,” Haroutunian told The Post in a brief interview this past summer. “We did everything we could to make him as comfortable as possible.”
The use of ketamine with substance abuse patients is controversial, according to medical experts who spoke with The Post, with the well-publicized case of actor Matthew Perry demonstrating the drug’s potential for abuse. Perry’s 2023 death, which was also investigated by federal law enforcement in Southern California, led to criminal charges against five people involved with procuring him the drug, including two doctors.
Irsay was one of the more charismatic and influential NFL owners of his generation, known as much for his colorful persona as he was for the Colts’ on-field success, which culminated with a Super Bowl win in 2007. But he struggled throughout his life with addiction, which periodically caused public turmoil around the Colts, including in 2014 when police found dozens of pills and thousands of dollars in cash in his car. He was convicted of intoxicated driving.
After the 2014 incident, Irsay took pride in speaking candidly about his struggles with addiction and launched a nonprofit initiative relating to mental health issues, including substance abuse disorders, called Kicking the Stigma. But in December 2023, signs of a relapse emerged.
Police and paramedics were called to Irsay’s home outside Indianapolis because he had been found unconscious. Police logged the incident as a “suspected overdose,” but Irsay would later claim that drugs played no role and that he had been suffering only from a leg injury.
This incident was indeed an overdose, The Post later reported, as was a separate one 12 days later at a hotel outside Miami. The second overdose left Irsay hospitalized for several months. The Colts, at the time, claimed he was being treated for “a severe respiratory illness.” Irsay later offered a different explanation, claiming he had been recovering from back surgery.
Irsay’s treating physician throughout this time was Haroutunian, who was better known around the Colts and to his patients as “Dr. Harry.” A former physician director and spokesman for the Betty Ford Center in Southern California, Haroutunian had treated a number of celebrities for substance abuse disorders over the years, including Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler.
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