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Case file s550 · Hollywood and TV · 2023
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2023
Matthew Perry: Matthew Perry in support of Awareness on Drug Courts and Reduced Substance Abuse
Matthew Perry. Valerie Jarrett / @vj44 via X (Twitter). Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
28 October 2023
Place
Los Angeles, California, USA
Field
television · Film and television on the timeline
Legal tradition
US common law (federal criminal case) · Common law
Historical event
the federal prosecution over the death of a Friends star
Hollywood and TVNowNorth AmericaUnited States

Matthew Perry died of ketamine, and his doctor, his assistant and a dealer called the "Ketamine Queen" were prosecuted

Matthew Perry, who played Chandler Bing on Friends, was found dead in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home. The medical examiner found the acute effects of ketamine†. Federal prosecutors charged five people with supplying it†. Dr. Salvador Plasencia pleaded guilty, saying "guilty" four times in court to counts tied to Perry's death, and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison in December 2025. Jasveen Sangha, called the "Ketamine Queen," pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years on 8 April 2026. Her defence said she never met Perry. Perry's live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, was set for sentencing on 22 April 2026, and middleman Erik Fleming on 29 April 2026, facing up to 25 years. Those sentences have not been confirmed in the sources found†. Perry had written publicly about decades of addiction and spent millions on treatment†.

What the law took from it

People with daily access to a wealthy addict can be the route by which the drugs arrive.

Sources
  1. ktvu.comPress
  2. foxla.comPress
  3. courttv.comPress

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Matthew Perry died of ketamine, and his doctor, his assistant and a dealer called the "Ketamine Queen" were prosecuted,” story s550, https://www.celebrity.estate/matthew-perry-2023, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Hollywood and TVNowNorth AmericaCommon lawUnited States