(LOS ANGELES) — A woman reportedly known as the “Ketamine Queen” has pleaded guilty to providing the dose of ketamine that led to Matthew Perry’s death in October 2023, becoming the fifth and final person to be convicted in connection with the “Friends” actor’s fatal overdose.
Jasveen Sangha, 42, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court 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, the Department of Justice said.
Sangha had been scheduled to go on trial in late September. The dual U.S-U.K. citizen has been in custody since her arrest in August 2024, nearly a year after Perry’s death.
Her attorney said Sangha has “accepted responsibility.”
“She feels horrible. She’s felt horrible from Day 1,” her attorney, Mark Geragos, told reporters outside the courthouse on Wednesday. “This has been a horrendous experience.”
Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 10. She faces 45 years in prison. Geragos said he feel there’s “a lot of mitigation in this case” regarding the sentencing, but didn’t go into specific detail on what those factors would be.
“I think there’s a lot of things that we will present that will give a clear picture as to what actually happened and levels of responsibility,” he said.
Perry died from a ketamine overdose on Oct. 28, 2023, at the age of 54. The actor was discovered unresponsive in a jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home, police said. An autopsy report revealed he died from the acute effects of ketamine.
In addition to Sangha, four other people were charged and pleaded guilty in connection with Perry’s death — Kenneth Iwamasa, Perry’s live-in personal assistant; two doctors, Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez; and Erik Fleming.
Prosecutors said Sangha worked with Fleming to distribute ketamine to Perry, and that in October 2023, they sold the actor 51 vials of ketamine, which were provided to Iwamasa, the DOJ said.
“Leading up to Perry’s death, Iwamasa repeatedly injected Perry with the ketamine that Sangha supplied to Fleming,” the DOJ said in a press release last month. “Specifically, on October 28, 2023, Iwamasa injected Perry with at least three shots of Sangha’s ketamine, which caused Perry’s death.”
Iwamasa, who admitted in court documents to administering the ketamine on the day that Perry died, pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death, the DOJ said. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 19.
Fleming admitted in court documents that he distributed the ketamine that killed Perry, prosecutors said. Like Iwamasa, he pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death and will be sentenced on Nov. 12.
Plasencia pleaded guilty in July to four counts of distribution of ketamine. Plasencia distributed ketamine to Iwamasa in order to inject the actor, however, he did not supply the doses that killed Perry, prosecutors said. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 3.
Chavez pleaded guilty in October 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. He admitted he sold Plasencia ketamine to then give to Perry. He is set to be sentenced on Dec. 17.
In her plea agreement, Sangha also admitted to selling ketamine in connection with another overdose death, prosecutors said. Victim Cody McLaury died hours after Sangha sold him four vials of ketamine in August 2019, according to the DOJ.
She additionally admitted to using her North Hollywood residence to “store, package, and distribute narcotics, including ketamine and methamphetamine, since at least June 2019,” the DOJ said. Authorities found 79 vials of liquid ketamine, among other drugs and drug trafficking items such as a money-counting machine, in her residence during a search in March 2023, the DOJ said.
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