Five individuals have been charged in connection with the 2023 death of actor Matthew Perry, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
The charges, announced Thursday morning at a news conference in Los Angeles, come after investigators say they uncovered an underground network of drug sellers and suppliers they allege are responsible for distributing the ketamine, a potentially deadly drug, that killed Perry.
The defendants include two doctors, Perry’s live-in personal assistant and a person referred to by authorities as “The Ketamine Queen,” according to a press release from the US Attorney’s office.
US Attorney Martin Estrada said the defendants “took advantage of Mr. Perry’s addiction issues.”
“They knew what they were doing was wrong,” Estrada said.
Three of the five charged have reached a plea agreement.
The other two defendants Dr. Salvador Plasencia, of Santa Monica, California, and Jasveen Sangha, who Estrada said ran what amounted to “a drug selling emporium” in her home, were indicted on Wednesday, the US Attorney said.
Plasencia pleaded not guilty to charges including one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, seven counts of distribution of ketamine and two counts of altering and falsifying documents or records related to the federal investigation. He was held on a $100,000 unsecured bond and surrendered his DEA license, which allowed him to prescribe controlled substances, on an order from Magistrate Judge Alka Sagar. His trial is set for October 8.
Sangha pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute ketamine, and five counts of distribution of ketamine.
The judge revoked a bond Sangha previously had from another charge that was not shared during court and ordered she remain in detention. Prosecutors argued she is a “significant risk to flee” given her extensive international travel and dual United States and British citizenship and that she appears to be funding herself through drug sales.
CNN has reached out to attorneys for Plasencia and Sangha for comment.
Plasencia’s attorney, Stefan Sacks, told CNN affiliate KCAL/KCBS there is no evidence to substantiate the allegations in the indictment.
“Mr. Perry was on ketamine treatment. Medically supervised, medically prescribed. And while the US attorney may disagree with Dr. Plasencia’s medical judgment, there was nothing criminal at the time. And more importantly, the ketamine that was involved in Mr. Perry’s passing was not related to Dr. Plasencia,” Sacks told the outlet.
The beloved actor who starred as Chandler Bing on “Friends” died in October 2023 at the age of 54. Perry was found floating face down in a stand-alone jacuzzi at his Pacific Palisades home. The actor died as a result of “acute effects of ketamine” and subsequent drowning, according to the Los Angeles Medical Examiner’s Office autopsy report.
“Matthew Perry’s journey began with unscrupulous doctors who abused their position of trust because they saw him as a payday, to street dealers who gave him ketamine in unmarked vials,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in the press release. “Every day, the DEA works tirelessly with our federal, state, and local partners to protect the public and to hold accountable those that distribute deadly and dangerous drugs – whether they are local drug traffickers or doctors who violate their sworn oath to care for patients.”
CNN has reached out to representatives for Perry’s foundation and his “Friends” castmates for comment on the charges announced Thursday.
Struggle with addiction
When announcing the charges on Thursday, Estrada said investigators believe Perry “fell back into addiction” in Fall 2023 and noted Perry’s vulnerability as a recovering addict.
Estrada alleged that Plasencia worked with Dr. Mark Chavez to supply Perry with Ketamine, which Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, would inject the actor with despite having no medical training.
Chavez, a 54-year-old doctor from San Diego, “has agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine,” according to the release.
Iwamasa, a 59-year-old from Toluca Lake, California, pleaded guilty on August 7 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death, the release said. Authorities allege that Iwamasa also “performed multiple injections on Perry on October 28, 2023 – the day Perry died.”
Eric Fleming, 54, of Hawthorne, California, has also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death, according to the US Attorney. Fleming said in court documents that he distributed the ketamine that killed Perry, which Fleming said he obtained from Sangha, the press release added.
When reached for comment by CNN, an attorney for Fleming had no comment. CNN has reached out to attorneys for Chavez and Iwamasa.
Estrada said that over two months from September to October 2023, Perry was distributed “approximately 20 vials of Ketamine” that cost him roughly $55,000.
“Defendant Plasencia saw this as an opportunity to profit off of Mr. Perry,” Estrada said. “He wrote in a text message in September 2023, ‘I wonder how much this moron will pay?’ He also stated in text messages that he wanted to be Mr. Perry’s sole source of supply.”
Perry had detailed his decades-long struggles with drug addiction in his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.” He wrote that he began abusing prescription medication after he was involved in a jet ski accident on the set of the film “Fools Rush In” in 1997 and was prescribed Vicodin.
According to his book, Perry eventually escalated to taking up to 55 pills per day, which resulted in his significant weight loss that was visible during his time working on “Friends.” He noted that it was difficult to watch the physical transformation he went through during his time on the show.
“I was, like, brutally thin and being beaten down so badly by the disease,” Perry wrote.
Ketamine has seen a surge in use in recent years as a treatment for depression, anxiety and pain. People close to Perry told coroner’s investigators that he was undergoing ketamine infusion therapy before his death and he was being treated by at least two doctors, according to The Associated Press.
Milgram added in the press conference that the “desperation that led Perry to these individuals was not met with help, as it should have been with the doctors.
“This betrayal of trust is at the heart of this tragedy.”
She added: “Perhaps what has happened … can help others and save lives.”
An ‘unfathomable loss’
Perry’s death was met with shock as he was beloved on “Friends” between 1994 and 2004, where he starred alongside Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow.
They released a joint statement after Perry died, writing “We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family.”
“There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss,” the statement, released by their individual representatives, added. “In time we will say more, as and when we are able. For now, our thoughts and our love are with Matty’s family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world.”
In May, Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Scot Williams told CNN that an investigation into Perry’s death was ongoing and criminal in nature.
Williams said authorities were looking into how Perry got the drugs and who may have supplied them. The US Drug Enforcement Administration and the US Postal Inspection Service were also involved in the investigation.
During the press conference, both Estrada and LA Police Chief Dominic Choi disputed the notion that they focused on this investigation and brought a wide-ranging case because of Perry’s socioeconomic status.
“Every victim’s life counts,” Estrada said.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Cheri Mossburg, Stephanie Elam, Hannah Rabinowitz and Norma Galeana contributed to this report.
