A woman who supplied the drugs that led to the 2023 death of Canadian-American actor Matthew Perry has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Jasveen Sangha, a 42-year-old dual British-American citizen known in media reports as the “Ketamine Queen,” pleaded guilty in September to five felony drug charges. She has been held in custody since her August 2024 arrest.
Perry was found dead in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home in 2023. In court, Sangha told US District Judge Sherilyn Garnett, “I take full responsibility for my actions. These were horrible choices that ultimately proved tragic.”
The “Friends” star had publicly discussed long-term struggles with alcohol and drug addiction but had said he was sober in the months before his death. Federal authorities say Perry became addicted to ketamine while receiving treatment for depression and anxiety at a clinic. When clinicians would not increase his ketamine dose, investigators allege, he obtained the drug on the black market. Weeks later, he died from an overdose of the anesthetic supplied by Sangha. Perry’s autopsy found he died from the “acute effects of ketamine,” which caused him to lose consciousness and drown in his hot tub.
Ketamine is a powerful anesthetic with hallucinogenic effects. It is used medically, including in some treatments for depression, but is also abused as an illicit recreational drug.
Sangha admitted running a so-called “stash house” for illegal drugs from her North Hollywood residence. Prosecutors said she supplied Perry—and others—with ketamine and other substances, selling the actor more than 50 doses through an intermediary, Erik Fleming, in the weeks before his death. After news of Perry’s death, prosecutors say Sangha urged associates to delete text messages to hide their involvement. A search of her home turned up large quantities of illicit drugs, including methamphetamine and ecstasy, alongside ketamine.
According to prosecutors, Fleming sold drugs to Perry’s live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who administered three ketamine injections that led to the actor’s death. Fleming and Iwamasa have not yet been sentenced.
Two physicians implicated in the case, Mark Chavez and Salvador Plasencia, have pleaded guilty. Chavez received eight months of home confinement, while Plasencia was sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
Sangha’s defense attorney, Mark Geragos, argued she should receive credit for the time she already had been detained—about one year and eight months—and contended she was less culpable than the person who injected Perry or the doctor who supplied the drugs. Sangha had faced a potential sentence of up to 65 years; prosecutors had recommended a 15-year term.
Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher