Matthew Perry's drug dealer takes plea deal

Daily Mail​

2 hours ago

Jasveen Sangha - known to her customers as the 'Ketamine Queen' - has made a plea deal in connection with the October 2023 drug overdose death of Friends star Matthew Perry at 54. Sangha was initially facing a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, a source close to the case told the Daily Mail exclusively. Under the plea agreement, that mandatory minimum has been lifted, allowing Sangha to potentially receive a sentence less than 10 years for her role in the death of Perry, whose life was recently chronicled in the documentary Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy. Sangha, a native of North Hollywood, California, is not expected to testify other related cases, the source said. The Friends actor was found dead face down in his jacuzzi back on October 29, 2023, leaving Hollywood shaken to its core after he bravely shared details of his addiction struggles with the public to dissuade others from following a similar path.
Months later, a medical examiner determined that the actor - who had battled substance abuse issues throughout his life - had died of 'acute effects of ketamine.' Legal analyst and federal criminal defense attorney Lou Shapiro told the Daily Mail he wasn't surprised Sangha decided to take the plea deal, especially since her co-defendants had done so earlier. 'When you look at the overwhelming evidence against her and what they found at her place alone — the drugs, the manufacturing equipment and the money — and tons of it, she was basically toast,' Shapiro said. 'There was nowhere for her to go. It wasn't if she was going to take the deal, it was a matter of just when.' Shapiro added: 'Even if you don't intentionally try to harm somebody or cause them great bodily injury or death, the mere fact that you are engaging in a conduct that is very likely going to result in death, you're going to be held accountable for it.'
Shapiro said any arguments presented would have quickly crumbled under legal scrutiny: 'You can't look the other way and say, 'I was just selling it. I was doing him a favor.' That is not going to fly. Shapiro added, 'This also sends a big message to the medical industry that doctors will be held fully accountable for death to bodily injury that results in their patients when they are merely prescribing drugs. 'These doctors knew what was going on and they fully participated in supplying Matthew Perry with as much ketamine as he wanted.' Shapiro cited court records in which the doctors themselves marveled at the extent of Perry's addiction and lengths he was willing to go to in his quest to get his next fix. 'They even called him an 'idiot' at one point in their text messages,' Shapiro said. 'I think the medical community also will look at this as a tragedy for the loss of life but also, they are people who worked hard to become medical professionals.
'Instead, these doctors threw all of that away for greed .' A sentencing hearing for Sangha 'is expected to occur in the coming months,' United States Attorney Bilal A. Essayli of California's Central District said in a statement obtained by Daily Mail on Monday. 'Upon entering her guilty plea, Sangha will face at her sentencing hearing,' Essayli said, 'a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison on the drug-involved premises count.' Sangha faces 'up to 10 years in federal prison for each ketamine distribution count ... and up to 15 years in federal prison for the count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury,' the prosecutor said. The prosecutor noted that in October 2023, 'Sangha and Fleming sold Perry 51 vials of ketamine, which were provided' to Perry's live-in personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa.
Sangha sought to engage in a cover-up with another person involved in the scheme, Perry pal Erik Fleming, 55, 'after learning from news reports of Perry's death,' the prosecutor said. Essayli said Monday that 'Sangha called Fleming on Signal to discuss how to distance themselves from it' following Perry's passing in the fall of 2023. The prosecutor continued: 'That day, Sangha updated the settings on the Signal apps to automatically delete her messages with Fleming. She further instructed Fleming to "Delete all our messages."' Essayli said that 'two days after Perry's death, Fleming left Sangha a voicemail on Signal and texted, "Please call . . . Got more info and want to bounce ideas off you. I'm 90% sure everyone is protected. I never dealt with [Perry]. Only his assistant. 'So the assistant was the enabler. Also they are doing a three-month tox screening ... Does [ketamine] stay in your system or is it immediately flushed out[?]."'
According to the prosecutor, Sangha also admitted to selling four vials of ketamine to another victim of a fatal overdose in August 2019, Cody McLaury. The prosecutor said that Sangha admit in her plea deal to possessing drugs she intended to sell at her home in North Hollywood residence. 'In March 2023, law enforcement searched the residence,' according to Essayli. 'and found 1.7 kilograms of pressed pills containing methamphetamine, 79 vials of liquid ketamine, MDMA (Ecstasy) tablets [and] counterfeit Xanax pills.' Also recovered were 'the baggies containing powdered ketamine and cocaine, and other drug trafficking items such as a gold money counting machine, a scale, a wireless signal and hidden camera detector, drug packaging materials, and $5,723 in cash,' the prosecutor said. In June, another medical professional charged in the case, Dr. Salvador Plasencia , agreed to plead guilty to four counts of ketamine distribution in the case.
Plasencia had also been charged with prosecutors with altering and falsifying documents or records in connection with the federal probe. With the expected guilty plea, Plasencia joined three others who had pleaded guilty in connection with the tragic death of the TV star. They include: Dr. Mark Chavez; Perry's assistant Kenneth Iwamasa and Erik Fleming, who was an acquaintance of the Friends star. It was previously revealed that the actor and his live-in assistant Iwamasa spent a minimum of $55,000 on 55 ketamine vials and related injections in the 29 days prior to the actor's fatal overdose at the age of 54 on October 28, 2023. Iwamasa had sent consecutive text messages seeking more of the surgical anesthetic from his suppliers, including an illegal transaction, authorities with the Department of Justice said last August after reviewing court documents in the cast against Iwamasa.
Iwamasa was one of five people arrested last year in connection with Perry's passing - in one instance convened with the Friends actor and Plasencia in a parking lot, where the actor had been injected with ketamine, according to legal docs. Iwamasa and Plasencia had 'exchanged thousands in cash for bottles' of ketamine, legal docs stated. Plasencia had also injected Perry with ketamine at his home on numerous occasions, authorities said. Plasencia in one instance injected the Williamstown, Massachusetts native, who played Chandler Bing on the NBC series, 'within hours' of Perry already having been injected with ketamine. The double dose led to Perry's systolic blood pressure rising to dangerous levels, according to legal docs, with the actor 'unable to speak or move' as result of the injections.
Iwamasa illegally spent $6,000 on 25 bottles of ketamine, according to legal docs, nine days after he purchased 25 ketamine vials illegally. In that instance, Perry was injected six times in one day by Iwamasa, and 18 additional times in the next three days, legal docs stated. Perry, on the day of his death, was injected with ketamine by Iwamasa three times, as he allegedly told his assistant to 'shoot me up with a big one,' the outlet reported, citing court docs. New details drawn from unsealed federal court documents and a medical examiner's investigation provide a chronological look at the end of Perry's life . On September 30, Perry and Iwamasa met at their home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles with Plasencia. Perry had been receiving ketamine treatments for depression - an increasingly common off-label use - from his regular doctor, but wasn't able to get as much as he wanted. Plasencia texted a doctor friend in San Diego, Mark Chavez, who agreed to obtain ketamine for him.
'I wonder how much this moron will pay,' Plasencia texted Chavez. The two met up the same day in Costa Mesa, California - halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego - and exchanged at least four vials of ketamine. Plasencia returned to Perry's house, where Iwamasa paid him $4,500 in cash for the vials. Plasencia gave Perry two injections of ketamine, and instructed Iwamasa on how to give the injections to the actor. Plasencia texted Chavez that the experience 'felt like a bad movie.' On October 2, Iwamasa texted Plasencia saying he wanted to buy not just injection sessions, but to be left with more vials of ketamine, referring to it in agreed-upon code as 'dr pepper.' Plasencia appeared, gave Perry the injections, and left behind the vials of the anesthetic.
On October 4, Iwamasa injected Perry himself for the first time. He texted the doctor that he had found 'the sweet spot' to put the needle into his boss, but that trying different spots on Perry had led to them running out, and they needed more. Plasencia texted Chavez asking if he could keep supplying the drug so they could become Perry's 'go-to.' On October 6, Iwamasa told Plasencia they were running low, and needed more. Plasencia went to Perry's house and sold him one or more vials. On October 8, in a late night meetup at a Santa Monica, California shopping plaza, Plasencia sold Iwamasa four vials of ketamine for $6,000 in cash. On October 10, Iwamasa drove Perry to a public parking lot in Long Beach, California where they met up with the doctor. He sold them more ketamine, and gave an injection to Perry while the actor sat in a car. On the same day, Iwamasa sought even more of the drug from an additional source of ketamine, reaching out to Erik Fleming, an acquaintance of Perry.
On October 11, Fleming messaged Iwamasa that he can get ketamine from a woman he knows, later identified as Sangha. 'It´s unmarked but it´s amazing - he take one and try it and I have more if he likes,' Fleming wrote. Fleming texted Iwamasa that she only deals ' with high end and celebs ,' and that if her product was 'not great stuff, she´d lose her business.' On October 12, Plasencia went to Perry's house, where he was paid $21,000 in cash, some of it owed to him for previous ketamine buys. While there he injected Perry. The actor immediately froze up and his blood pressure spiked. The assistant said the doctor told him, 'Let's not do that again.' On October 13, Perry got a sample of Sangha's ketamine and tried it. He and Iwamasa would ask for 25 vials of it, for which he would pay $5,500. Fleming dropped it off at Perry's house a day later. On or around October 20 - Perry received his last legal ketamine treatment from his regular physician, according to what a woman close to him whose name was redacted in official documents told medical examiner's investigators.
The woman said his previous doctor had given him treatments every other day, but his new doctor said Perry was doing well, his depression was managed, and he no longer needed so many treatments. The woman would tell investigators that she had believed Perry had been sober for 19 months and there had been no relapse. On around October 24, Perry talked to the unidentified woman for the last time. She told investigators he had been in good spirits. On October 25, Iwamasa asked Fleming for another 25 vials of ketamine. After picking up $6,000 from Perry, Fleming picked up the ketamine from Sangha, who told him her own source is known as Master Chef; meanwhile, Iwamasa gave Perry at least six shots of ketamine. On October 26, Iwamasa again gave Perry at least six shots of ketamine. On October 27, the assistant again gave the actor at least six shots of ketamine.
With the supply coming from Fleming and Sangha, Perry and Iwamasa had been out of touch with Plasencia for about two weeks. Plasencia would text Iwamasa saying he had more to offer: 'I know you mentioned taking a break. I have been stocking up.' On October 28, at about 8:30 a.m., acting at Perry's direction, using syringes from Plasencia and ketamine from Sangha, Iwamasa gave Perry an injection. At about 11 a.m., Perry played pickleball, according to what Iwamasa told medical examiner's investigators later in the day, though many elements of that initial story changed in his later talks to prosecutors. About 12:45 p.m., Iwamasa gave Perry his second shot of the day, and the actor began watching a movie. Shortly before 1:30 p.m., Iwamasa gave Perry his third and final injection of the day while Perry sat at his backyard jacuzzi. 'Shoot me up with a big one,' Iwamasa remembered Perry told him.
The assistant then left to run errands. At about 4 p.m., Iwamasa returned home to find Perry face down in the jacuzzi. He jumped in, pulled Perry to the steps and called 911. Paramedics arrived minutes later and declared Perry dead. Coroner's investigators would say ketamine was the primary cause of his death, with drowning a secondary cause. Iwamasa has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute Ketamine. Fleming has pleaded guilty to distributing ketamine resulting in death. Both are cooperating with prosecutors. Chavez has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute the drug. Plasencia and Sangha, the two main targets of the investigation, have pleaded not guilty to multiple felony counts.