In death of Matthew Perry, North Hollywood’s ‘Ketamine Queen’ to plead guilty

By FRED SHUSTER | City News Service

Jasveen Sangha — the so-called “Ketamine Queen” — is expected to plead guilty Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court to illegally selling the ketamine that killed “Friends” actor Matthew Perry in October 2023.

The North Hollywood woman has agreed to enter her plea to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury.

Upon entering her guilty plea, the 42-year-old Sangha will face up to 65 years in federal prison, according to prosecutors.

Sangha — whose customers referred to her as the “Ketamine Queen,” prosecutors say — will be the last of five defendants, including two physicians, to plead guilty in the case.

Perry, who had long struggled with addiction issues to various substances, obtained the powerful surgical anesthetic from numerous sources.

Beginning in mid-October 2023, the actor’s live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, began obtaining ketamine for Perry from the assistant’s friend, Eric Fleming, who was getting it from Sangha, plea agreements in the case show.

After discussing prices with Iwamasa, Fleming coordinated the sales with Sangha, and brought cash from Iwamasa to Sangha’s “stash house” to buy 50 vials of the drug, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

On Oct. 28, 2023, Iwamasa injected Perry with at least three shots of Sangha’s ketamine, causing the actor’s death, documents state.

Ketamine also came to Perry via Santa Monica physician Salvador Plasencia. In late September 2023, Plasencia learned that Perry was interested in obtaining the anesthetic, which is also used as a therapy for depression and as a so-called “party drug,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Plasencia contacted San Diego doctor Mark Chavez — who previously operated a ketamine clinic — to obtain the drug to sell to the actor. In text messages to Chavez, Plasencia discussed how much to charge Perry for the ketamine, stating, “I wonder how much this moron will pay,” records show.

Prosecutors say Plasencia illegally distributed ketamine to Perry and Iwamasa on at least seven occasions and taught the personal assistant how to inject Perry with the drug. Plasencia knew that Iwamasa had never received medical training and knew little, if anything, about administering or treating patients with controlled substances, court papers state.

Federal authorities also say that Plasencia conspired with Chavez about inventory, price and availability of ketamine to sell to Perry and Iwamasa. Chavez, in turn, sold Plasencia orally administered ketamine lozenges that he obtained after writing a fraudulent prescription in a patient’s name without her knowledge or consent, and lied to wholesale ketamine distributors to buy additional vials of liquid ketamine that Chavez intended to sell to Plasencia for distribution to Perry.

Prosecutors said Perry was paying $2,000 per vial of ketamine, while his dealers were paying $12 for each vial.

Perry detailed his years-long struggle with addiction in the 2022 memoir “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.” The “Friends” star, who played the character Chandler Bing in the series from 1994 to 2004, says he went through detox dozens of times.

He was found dead Oct. 28. 2023, in a hot tub behind his Pacific Palisades home, of a fatal ketamine overdose. He was 54. The five defendants were charged in an 18-count indictment in August 2024 in connection with his death.

In her plea agreement, Sangha also admitted to selling four vials of ketamine to another man, 33-year-old Cody McLaury, in August 2019. McLaury, an aspiring personal trainer, died hours later from an overdose, prosecutors and other sources said.

Sangha’s attorney, Mark Geragos, said in a brief statement that his client was now “taking responsibility for her actions.”

In her agreement with prosecutors, Sangha admitted to possessing with intent to distribute various drugs at her apartment. In March 2023, seven months prior to Perry’s death, law enforcement had searched Sangha’s residence and found 3.7 pounds of pressed pills containing methamphetamine, 79 vials of liquid ketamine, MDMA (Ecstasy) tablets, counterfeit Xanax pills, baggies containing powdered ketamine and cocaine, and other 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.

She also admitted in her plea agreement to using her North Hollywood home to store, package and distribute narcotics, including ketamine and methamphetamine, since at least June 2019.

The other four defendants are awaiting sentencing.

Chavez, 55, pleaded guilty in October 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, and faces up to 10 years in federal prison at his sentencing hearing on Sept. 17.

Fleming, 55, of Hawthorne, pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Nov. 12, at which time he will face up to 25 years in federal prison.

Iwamasa, 60, of Toluca Lake, pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Nov. 19, at which time he will face up to 15 years in federal prison.

Plasencia, 43, also known as “Dr. P,” pleaded guilty on July 23 to four counts of distribution of ketamine. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 3, at which time he will face up to 10 years in federal prison for each count.