‘Ketamine Queen’ Receives 15-Year Prison Sentence in Matthew Perry's Death Case
A court in California sentenced 42-year-old Jaswinder Sangha to 15 years in prison. She previously pleaded guilty to selling drugs, an overdose of which caused the death of actor Matthew Perry, writes the BBC.
Sangha, who holds US and UK citizenship, faced up to 65 years in prison on a range of drug-related charges. She has been under arrest since August 2024.
Actor's stepmother Debbie Perry asked the court to impose the maximum prison sentence on Sangha.
"The pain you have caused hundreds, perhaps even thousands of people, cannot be undone. There is no joy, no light. He won't come back," Debbie Perry wrote, addressing the accused.
Sangha is one of five accused in the case of Matthew Perry's death; he struggled with drug addiction for several decades.
After Perry's death, US federal authorities conducted a large-scale investigation, during which they established that the actor received ketamine through an underground drug supply network operating in Hollywood.
Dr. Salvador Placencia was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison in December 2025 and became the first person involved in Perry's death case to receive a sentence.
Another doctor, Mark Chavez, was sentenced to three years of probation and 300 hours of community service. Chavez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
In court, Mark Chavez stated that he sold ketamine to Salvador Placencia, who resold the drug to actor's assistant Kenneth Iwamasa at a heavily inflated price. The latter personally administered the drug to Matthew Perry on October 28, 2023, after which the actor died.
"I wonder how much this idiot will pay," Placencia wrote in one of the text messages.
According to prosecutors, Perry paid over $2000 for a vial of ketamine, which significantly exceeded the price at which dealers purchased the drug.
Sangha operated through an intermediary, Eric Fleming. She sold 51 vials of ketamine to Perry's personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who lived in the same house as the actor.
Iwamasa repeatedly administered ketamine to Perry, which he received from Sangha. On October 28, 2023, the actor's assistant gave Matthew Perry at least three injections of the drug.
Sentences for Iwamasa and Fleming will be handed down at the end of April.
‘Delete All Messages’
Upon seeing media reports about Perry's sudden death, Sangha tried to cover her tracks. "Delete all our messages," she wrote to Fleming.
During a search of Sangha's home in Hollywood, investigators found over 80 vials of ketamine, as well as thousands of pills, including methamphetamine, cocaine, and Xanax. A money counter, scales, and hidden cameras were also found in her apartment.
Federal authorities accused Sangha of supplying ketamine from her "stash house" in Hollywood. Sangha worked with celebrities and high-profile clients, supplying them with drugs since at least 2019, according to the indictment.
Matthew Perry was found dead in a bathtub at his Los Angeles home in October 2023. An autopsy revealed that his death resulted from the effects of ketamine use.
Perry's death and the investigation into how he acquired such a quantity of the drug over several years provided insight into the scale of Hollywood's ketamine trafficking network — one doctor in an interview with the BBC called it a "Wild West".
Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration, has hallucinogenic effects. It can distort visual and auditory perception and causes a feeling of detachment and loss of control in the user.
It is used as an injectable anesthetic for humans and animals, as it allows patients to not feel pain and to be detached from reality.
‘Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing’
Perry was best known for his role as the witty Chandler Bing in the popular TV series ‘Friends’.
Matthew Perry. Photo: Phillip Faraone / Getty Images
The sitcom ‘Friends’ premiered in 1994. The series about six friends was called ‘great’ and ‘must-watch’ almost from its very first episodes.
Perry's character in ‘Friends’ — Chandler — was a somewhat shy wisecracker who successfully pursued one career, then started another, but his personal life wasn't so simple.
In 2022, Perry released his memoir ‘Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing’. It began with the words: ‘Hi, my name is Matthew, although you might know me by another name. My friends call me Matty. And I should be dead.’
In this confessional book, Perry recounts realizing by the age of 20 that he was addicted to alcohol, later adding painkillers like Vicodin and hard drugs. He underwent at least two major surgeries caused by alcohol and substance abuse. And, by his own estimation, he spent $7 million on addiction treatment.
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