Matthew Perry's assistant jailed for role in actor’s ketamine overdose death

Kenneth Iwamasa, longtime personal assistant to late actor Matthew Perry, has been sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for his involvement in the ketamine overdose that led to the ‘Friends’ star’s death in October 2023.

United States District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett delivered the sentence on Wednesday. Iwamasa was also ordered to pay a USD 10,000 fine.

Iwamasa had pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death and serious bodily injury. He became the fifth and final defendant to be sentenced in the case.

Federal prosecutors said Iwamasa, who had worked with Perry for decades and became his live-in assistant in 2022, repeatedly supplied and injected ketamine into the actor despite having no medical qualifications and knowing about Perry’s history of addiction.

Prosecutors stated that instead of helping Perry remain sober, Iwamasa acted as an “enabler and drug supplier”.

Court records showed that between September 2023 and Perry’s death, Iwamasa worked with physician Salvador Plasencia and drug counsellor Erik Fleming to obtain ketamine for the actor. Authorities said Plasencia supplied around 20 vials of ketamine, syringes and tablets worth nearly USD 57,000, and also instructed Iwamasa on how to administer the drug.

Investigators said Perry had reacted badly during one ketamine injection, allegedly freezing up after the dose. According to court filings, Plasencia reportedly remarked, “Let’s not do that again.”

Despite the warning, prosecutors said Iwamasa continued arranging ketamine deliveries through Fleming, who sourced the drug from Jasveen Sangha, dubbed the “Ketamine Queen” by authorities.

On October 28, 2023, Iwamasa allegedly injected Perry with at least three doses of ketamine supplied by Sangha. Prosecutors said those injections caused the actor’s death.

Authorities further alleged that after calling emergency services on the day Perry died, Iwamasa withheld information about ketamine use from first responders and later attempted to destroy evidence linked to the actor’s drug consumption. Court documents stated that he later told Fleming he had “deleted everything”.

Other defendants in the case have also received prison terms. Sangha was sentenced to 15 years in prison, while Plasencia and Fleming received sentences of two-and-a-half years and two years, respectively, after pleading guilty to federal narcotics offences.

Perry, best known for playing Chandler Bing in the hit sitcom ‘Friends’, died at the age of 54.