'Ketamine Queen' sentenced to 15 years in death of 'Friends' star Matthew Perry

By Lisa Richwine and Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES, April 8 (Reuters) - A drug dealer dubbed the "Ketamine Queen" was sentenced on Wednesday to 15 years in prison in connection with "Friends" star Matthew Perry's 2023 death, including her role in supplying the dose of the powerful anesthetic that killed the actor.

Jasveen Sangha, who admitted to running a "stash house" for illegal narcotics out of her home in the North Hollywood district of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty in September to five felony drug counts stemming from Perry's death at age 54.

Sangha, wearing beige prison garb for the hearing in Los Angeles federal court, expressed remorse for her role in Perry's death in a statement she delivered before being sentenced.

"I take full responsibility for my actions. These were horrible choices that ultimately proved tragic," Sangha, 42, told U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Garnett.

The judge imposed a 15-year term, as federal prosecutors had recommended. The dual U.S.-British citizen had faced a possible sentence of up to 65 years.

Sangha's sentence was harsher than those given to two physicians already sentenced in the case. Two more convicted co-defendants - another drug dealer and Perry's former personal assistant - have yet to be sentenced.

The defense had urged Garnett to limit Sangha's sentence to time already served since her 2024 arrest, about one year and eight months.

JUDGE REBUFFS LENIENCY ARGUMENT

Sangha's lawyer argued she suffered from her own substance abuse problems but has remained sober since her arrest and has demonstrated a willingness to improve her life and the lives of others, including organizing and leading weekly Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

The judge said she took into account the fact that Sangha had continued selling illegal drugs for six months after Perry's death, exhibiting a lack of remorse at the time.

Perry was found by his live-in personal assistant floating face down and lifeless in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023.

An autopsy report concluded Perry died from the "acute effects of ketamine," which combined with other factors in causing him to lose consciousness and drown.

Ketamine, a short-acting but potent anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties, is sometimes prescribed to treat depression and other psychological disorders but has gained popularity as an illicit party drug.

DECADES OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Perry had acknowledged decades of substance abuse that overlapped with the height of his fame playing the sardonic but charming Chandler Bing on the 1990s hit NBC television comedy "Friends."

His death came a year after publication of Perry's memoir, "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing," which chronicled bouts with addiction to prescription painkillers and alcohol that had come close to ending his life more than once.

In the months before his death, Perry had claimed to have regained sobriety. But according to federal law enforcement officials, Perry had been undergoing medically supervised ketamine infusions for depression and anxiety at a clinic where he became addicted to it.

When doctors there refused to increase his dosage, Perry turned to unscrupulous providers willing to exploit his addiction for their own financial benefit, authorities said.

Within weeks, he was dead from an overdose of ketamine supplied by Sangha, known to her customers on the street as the "Ketamine Queen." Sangha acknowledged selling 51 vials of ketamine to a go-between dealer, Erik Fleming, who then sold the doses to Perry through the actor's personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa.

Prosecutors said Iwamasa later injected Perry with at least three shots of ketamine from those vials, resulting in the actor's death.

As part of her deal with prosecutors, Sangha pleaded guilty to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, plus three counts of illegal distribution of ketamine and one count of distributing ketamine resulting in death.

Sangha admitted she was aware that vials she sold to Fleming were intended for Perry. She also admitted to selling ketamine to a person in 2019 who died hours later from an overdose.

Perry's stepfather, broadcast journalist Keith Morrison, recalled how the actor brought joy to his family and wrote a best-selling book and a play even while struggling with addiction.

"All those possibilities died with him. He should have had another act, two more acts," Morrison said in a victim-impact statement before sentencing.

Fleming, Iwamasa and physicians Mark Chavez and Salvador Plasencia have pleaded guilty to drug offenses. Plasencia was sentenced to 2-1/2 years in prison. Chavez got eight months of home confinement.

Sangha's defense attorney Mark Geragos took issue with the disparity of the charges and sentencing so far.

"There's no way that Jasveen is five times more culpable than the person who injected Matthew Perry with the drug, or the doctor who got the drug," Geragos told reporters after the hearing.

Iwamasa has not been sentenced. The maximum he faces for the single count he pleaded guilty to is 15 years.