Chloe Ramirez
In 2025, news broke that Matthew Perry, the actor best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the hit TV show Friends, had died in 2023 from an overdose of ketamine. In the aftermath of his death, five people were charged in connection to his death, including a woman named Jasveen Sangha, who was known as the Ketamine Queen. In August 2025, Sangha agreed to plead guilty to five federal criminal charges, including providing the fatal dose of ketamine that led to Perry's death. This plea deal sparked a public discussion about the accountability of doctors in overprescribing drugs and the potential consequences for their patients.
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What You'll Learn
Matthew Perry's death
On 28 October 2023, Matthew Perry, the actor known for his role as Chandler Bing on the hit TV show Friends, was found dead in the hot tub at his home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles. He was 54 years old.
Perry's death was ruled accidental by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, who determined that the cause of death was the "acute effects of ketamine". The actor had been using the drug, which is typically used as a surgical anesthetic, as a legal but off-label treatment for depression. In the weeks leading up to his death, Perry sought out increasing amounts of ketamine, obtaining it from various sources, including a woman known as the "Ketamine Queen", Jasveen Sangha.
Five people were charged in connection with Perry's death, including his live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who injected him with ketamine multiple times on the day of his death, and two doctors. Iwamasa pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death. Sangha initially pleaded not guilty but later agreed to plead guilty to five federal criminal charges, including providing the ketamine that led to Perry's death and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury. She could face up to 65 years in prison.
Perry had been open about his struggles with addiction and had previously written about how he became an alcoholic as a teenager and developed an addiction to pain medication following a jet skiing accident in 1997. In the years before his death, he advocated for addiction recovery and opened a men's sober-living facility in his former Malibu home. The National Philanthropic Trust established the Matthew Perry Foundation after his death to support people suffering from addiction.
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Ketamine Queen
The "Ketamine Queen," Jasveen Sangha, has agreed to plead guilty to supplying actor Matthew Perry with a fatal dose of ketamine. Perry, best known for his role in the hit TV series "Friends," died on October 28, 2023, at the age of 54. He was found unresponsive, floating face down in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home.
An autopsy report revealed that Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine, a powerful anesthetic increasingly used to treat depression. In the months leading up to his death, Perry obtained ketamine through his doctor as an off-label treatment for depression. However, when his doctor refused to provide larger amounts, Perry turned to other sources, including Sangha.
Sangha, a 42-year-old dual citizen of the United States and the United Kingdom, was known to her customers as the "Ketamine Queen." She advertised herself as a curator of art and events, using social media to project an image of exclusivity. Through an acquaintance, she learned of Perry's interest in ketamine and offered to provide a sample.
On October 12, 2023, Erik Fleming, acting as an intermediary, delivered 25 vials of ketamine from Sangha to Perry's assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa. Two weeks later, on October 24, another 25 vials were purchased, with the fatal dose included in this batch, according to prosecutors. Upon learning of Perry's death, Sangha instructed Fleming to delete their messages, seeking to destroy evidence of her involvement.
Sangha is the fifth and final defendant charged in Perry's overdose death to strike a plea agreement. She will plead guilty to five federal criminal charges, including providing the ketamine that led to Perry's death. While initially facing a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, the plea deal removes this minimum, potentially reducing her sentence.
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Jasveen Sangha pleads guilty
On August 18, 2025, it was reported that Jasveen Sangha, the so-called "Ketamine Queen", had agreed to plead guilty to five federal charges, including selling actor Matthew Perry the dose of ketamine that led to his death. Perry, who played Chandler Bing on the 1990s sitcom "Friends", was found dead in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023. The Los Angeles County medical examiner's office determined that his death was caused by the "acute effects of ketamine".
Sangha, 42, is an American-British dual national who has been in federal custody since August 2024. She signed a plea agreement dated August 14, in which she certified that "I am pleading guilty because I am guilty of the charges". She is expected to plead guilty in "the coming weeks", according to the Justice Department.
Sangha advertised herself as a curator of art and events and a jet-setter who routinely travelled between London and Los Angeles. She learned of Perry's interest in ketamine through an acquaintance who was in touch with the actor's personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, and offered to send a sample. Two days later, she sent Perry a ketamine sample in an unlabeled glass vial with a blue cap. Iwamasa, who acted as an intermediary, bought 25 vials on Perry's behalf, and when he bought 25 more vials two weeks later, Sangha included some ketamine lollipops. One of those 50 vials contained the ketamine that killed Perry.
Sangha is one of five people charged in Perry's death, including two doctors, Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez, who sold ketamine; Iwamasa, who helped purchase and inject the actor with ketamine; and Eric Fleming, who sold Perry ketamine he got from Sangha. All five have agreed to plead guilty to charges in the case.
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Perry's struggle with addiction
Matthew Perry's struggle with addiction has been well-documented, and the actor has been candid about his battles with substance abuse and the impact it had on his career and personal life. Perry's addiction struggles began in his early twenties when he was shooting to fame on the popular sitcom *Friends*. He became addicted to prescription opioids, initially obtaining them through a back injury and then through a wisdom tooth problem. This soon spiraled into a full-blown addiction, and he began to seek out additional prescriptions from multiple doctors, a practice known as "doctor shopping."
In an interview, Perry revealed that he doesn't remember three years of his time on *Friends* due to his substance abuse. He said, "I think the hardest thing about being a celebrity is that people don't look at you as a person anymore. You're a thing, a product. I was on *Friends*, and Friends was this big hit, and everywhere I went, people would just scream the lines at me, and I wasn't really a person." The constant attention and pressure to live up to his on-screen persona took a toll on his mental health, and he turned to drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism.
Perry's addiction led to multiple stints in rehab and a period of isolation and depression. In 1997, he finally got sober, and his health and career improved significantly. However, his addiction issues resurfaced in 2000 when he was involved in a jet-ski accident and was prescribed painkillers again. This led to another period of addiction and rehab, and Perry has since shared that he has had to continually work to maintain his sobriety.
Perry's struggles with addiction have been ongoing, and he has relapsed multiple times. In 2011, he openly discussed his addiction to alcohol and prescription pills, revealing that he had spent time in a treatment facility. He has also been open about his struggles with depression and how it has intertwined with his addiction issues. In a bid to help others, Perry has become an addiction specialist and works to help people struggling with similar issues. He has also written a book, titled *Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing*, which details his journey and offers insight into his struggles and path to recovery.
Perry's story is a reminder that addiction can affect anyone, even those who seem to have it all, and that the road to recovery is often long and challenging. His honesty and willingness to share his story have helped to raise awareness and reduce the stigma surrounding addiction and mental health issues.
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Five people charged in connection to Perry's death
Matthew Perry, the beloved actor known for his role as Chandler Bing on "Friends", died in October 2023 at the age of 54. His death was caused by the "acute effects of ketamine" and subsequent drowning, as per the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office autopsy report. Five people have been charged in connection with his death.
The first is Erik Fleming, a 54-year-old from Hawthorne, who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. He admitted to obtaining the ketamine from his source, Jasveen Sangha, and distributing 50 vials to Perry's live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa.
The second is Kenneth Iwamasa, Perry's 59-year-old live-in assistant of over 25 years. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death and admitted to repeatedly injecting Perry with ketamine without medical training, including three injections on the day of his death.
The third is Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who supplied drugs to Perry's assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa. He is charged with seven counts of distribution of ketamine and two counts of altering and falsifying documents related to the federal investigation.
The fourth is Dr. Mark Chavez, who supplied ketamine to Plasencia. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
The fifth is Jasveen Sangha, known as the "Ketamine Queen." She is accused of distributing the ketamine that caused Perry's death and has pleaded guilty 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. She could face up to 65 years in prison.
All five individuals played a key role in Perry's death by falsely prescribing, selling, or injecting the ketamine that ultimately took his life.
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