From left to right: David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston and Matt LeBlanc pose after “Friends” won outstanding comedy series at the 54th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 22, 2002 (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File).
After “Friends” star Matthew Perry was found dead in a hot tub at his Pacific Palisades, California, home in October 2023, an autopsy revealed that he died at 54 from “acute effects of ketamine,” prompting Los Angeles authorities and the feds to investigate the source or sources of the drugs he received in the weeks before the tragedy. On Thursday, federal prosecutors claimed to have an elaborate answer, unsealing a case against five defendants, two of them doctors, one an alleged drug dealer dubbed the “Ketamine Queen,” the fourth a drug distributor and Perry acquaintance who admittedly provided the fifth, Perry’s “live-in personal assistant,” with the ketamine that killed the actor days before his death.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, Dr. Salvador “Dr. P” Plasencia, 42, “Ketamine Queen” Jasveen Sangha, 41, Dr. Mark Chavez, 54, Erik Fleming, 54, and Perry assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, 59, were all charged in connection with the distribution of ketamine, but Fleming and Iwamasa have already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death and Chavez has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute.
The unsealed indictment, therefore, pertains to the conspiracy and distribution charges against Plasencia and Sangha, the latter of whom is accused of dealing the ketamine that killed Perry, and discusses the roles of the other three defendants.
“These defendants cared more about profiting off of Mr. Perry than caring for his well-being,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said of the indictments. “Drug dealers selling dangerous substances are gambling with other people’s lives over greed. This case, along with our many other prosecutions of drug-dealers who cause death, send a clear message that we will hold drug-dealers accountable for the deaths they cause.”
Perry’s autopsy said the amount of ketamine in his blood was enough to use as general anesthesia during surgery and that he drowned, but that the drowning was the secondary cause of death.
The indictment now alleges that Plasencia, on Sept. 30, 2023, texted co-conspirator Chavez about Perry and selling him ketamine.
“I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia allegedly said, aware of Perry’s substance abuse and addiction history. “Let’s find out.”
That same day, Plasencia allegedly texted Chavez about meeting Perry, saying the meeting was “like a bad movie.”
Again, the same day, the doctor allegedly texted Perry to confirm “he planned to leave vials of ketamine with Victim M.P. for self-administration, stating: ‘I will give you first dose if you would like and leave supplies with you.”
At Perry’s home, Plasencia is accused of injecting Perry with ketamine and then giving Perry assistant Iwamasa “instructions” on how to inject the actor.
Days later, the indictment said, Iwamasa followed up to purchase “8 bottles of dr pepper, not just 8 sessions.”
Plascenia allegedly remarked to Chavez in a text, “[i]f today goes well we may have repeat business.”
But according to the feds, the doctors weren’t the only ones involved in the drug distribution business, claiming that Sangha was well aware of dangers since she sold ketamine to Cody McLaury, who also died of an overdose in 2019, and then Googled whether that specific drug could be “listed as a cause of death.”
“Defendant SANGHA similarly knew that the unsupervised and improper use of ketamine can be deadly. As alleged in Count Three, on August 26, 2019, defendant SANGHA sold ketamine to a customer, namely, Victim C.M., who died of a drug overdose within a day of the drug deal. As a result, a family member of Victim C.M. informed defendant SANGHA of the death in a text message, stating: ‘The ketamine you sold my brother killed him. It’s listed as the cause of
death.””
“Within days of receiving this text, defendant SANGHA confirmed that ketamine can kill by conducting a Google search for ‘can ketamine be listed as a cause of death[?],’” court documents said.
Still, the feds alleged, Sangha continued to “operate and maintain the SANGHA Stash House in North Hollywood, California, which defendant SANGHA would use to store, package, and distribute narcotics, including providing ketamine to Co-Conspirator Fleming so that Co-Conspirator Fleming could sell it to Victim [Matthew Perry]” — with fatal consequences.
The indictment alleged that Fleming got the ketamine that killed Perry from Sangha and gave it to Iwasama, who the feds said admitted to injecting Perry multiple times on the day he died.
Right after the so-called “Ketamine Queen” heard about Perry’s death on the news, she called Fleming on Signal, changed the settings on the app to ensure her messages would be automatically deleted, and and told Fleming “Delete all our messages,” the indictment said, including a screenshot of the exchange.
Fleming followed up two days later and messaged Sangha, saying, “Please call . . . Got more info and want to bounce ideas off you,” court documents said.
“I’m 90% sure everyone is protected. I never dealt with [Victim M.P.]. Only his Assistant. So the Assistant was the enabler. Also they are doing a 3 month tox screening … Does K stay in your system or is it immediately flushed out[?]” he allegedly asked.
According to the feds, Sangha could face up to life in prison if convicted, Plasencia faces possible decades, Iwamasa and Fleming face 15 to 25 years, and Chavez faces up to 10 years.
It’s unclear if Plasencia has an attorney yet, and Sangha’s has reportedly not commented yet.
Read the indictment here.
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