A woman nicknamed the “Ketamine Queen” has agreed to plead guilty to supplying Matthew Perry with the drugs that prosecutors say led to his death.
Jasveen Sangha is the fifth and final person charged in the overdose case to enter a plea deal. She had previously pleaded not guilty but changed her position this week, avoiding a jury trial that was set to begin in August.
Federal prosecutors described Sangha as a prolific drug dealer, using her nickname “Ketamine Queen” in press statements and court filings, and even making it part of the official case title.
Sangha now plans to plead guilty to five charges, including maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of ketamine distribution, and one count of distributing the drug resulting in death or serious injury. She could face up to 45 years in prison. Three other counts, including one related to methamphetamine distribution, will be dropped under the agreement.
Court documents show she also admitted to selling four vials of ketamine to a man named Cody McLaury, who later died of an overdose in 2019. That case was unrelated to Matthew Perry but noted in the plea.
Perry, best known for playing Chandler Bing in Friends, died at his Los Angeles home in October 2023. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner ruled ketamine as the primary cause of death. Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who has also pleaded guilty in connection with the case, was the one who found him.
Prosecutors said Perry initially received ketamine legally from his doctor as an off-label treatment for depression, which has become more common in recent years. But in the weeks before his death, he began sourcing more from Dr Salvador Plasencia and then from Sangha directly.
In their plea agreements, Iwamasa and Perry’s friend Erik Fleming described connecting him to Sangha as she was known to supply “with high end and celebs”.
Court records cite a text from Fleming to Iwamasa describing her product as “unmarked but it’s amazing”, adding that “if it were not great stuff she’d lose her business”.
Just four days before he died, Perry was said to have spent US$6,000 (about AU$9,200) in cash for 25 vials of ketamine from Sangha. Prosecutors confirmed the doses from that purchase included the one that killed him.
On the day of Perry’s death, Sangha allegedly urged Fleming to delete their messages, according to her indictment.
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided her home in North Hollywood in March 2024, finding large amounts of both methamphetamines and ketamine. She was indicted that June and arrested in August.
The other four defendants – Plasencia, Fleming, Iwamasa and Dr Mark Chavez – have also accepted plea deals. None of them have been sentenced yet.
Perry’s addiction struggles were well-documented during his lifetime. In his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, he wrote about his decades-long battle with alcohol and pain medication.
Following his death, the Matthew Perry Foundation was created to support people facing similar challenges with substance dependence.
Help is available.
If you’re in distress, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or chat online. If it’s an emergency, please call 000.
Under 25? You can reach Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800 or chat online.
You can also reach the Alcohol Drug Information Service at 1800 250 015 or chat online.
Lead image: Getty Images
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