A woman prosecutors say supplied the ketamine that played a role in actor Matthew Perry’s 2023 death has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. Jasveen Sangha, 42, a dual British-American citizen often called the “Ketamine Queen” in news reports, pleaded guilty in September to five felony drug counts and has been held since her August 2024 arrest.
Perry was found dead in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home in 2023. Federal prosecutors allege Perry developed an addiction to ketamine while receiving treatment for depression and anxiety at a clinic, and when clinicians refused to increase his doses he turned to the black market. Autopsy officials concluded he died from the acute effects of ketamine, which caused him to lose consciousness and drown.
Sangha admitted operating a so-called stash house at her North Hollywood residence and supplying ketamine and other illegal drugs. Prosecutors say she sold Perry more than 50 doses in the weeks before his death, funneling the drug through an intermediary, Erik Fleming. After the actor’s death, authorities allege Sangha urged associates to delete text messages to conceal their involvement. Searches of her home turned up substantial quantities of ketamine as well as methamphetamine and ecstasy.
According to the government, Fleming sold drugs to Perry’s live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who administered three ketamine injections that led to Perry’s death. Fleming and Iwamasa have pleaded but have not yet been sentenced. Two physicians implicated in the case, Mark Chavez and Salvador Plasencia, pleaded guilty; Chavez was given eight months of home confinement and Plasencia received a 2½-year prison term.
At sentencing, Sangha told U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Garnett she accepted responsibility and called her decisions horrible and tragic. Her defense attorney, Mark Geragos, asked that she receive credit for roughly one year and eight months already spent in custody and argued she was less culpable than the person who gave the injections or the doctor who supplied drugs. Sangha had faced a potential sentence as long as 65 years; prosecutors had recommended the 15-year term that was imposed.
Ketamine is a powerful anesthetic with hallucinogenic effects; it has legitimate medical uses, including some treatments for depression, but it is also abused as an illicit recreational drug. The case underscores concerns about diversion of medical ketamine and illegal street supplies tied to fatal overdoses.