Hollywood's "Ketamine Queen" agrees to plead guilty to federal drug charges linked to Matthew Perry's death
The North Hollywood woman known as the "Ketamine Queen" agreed to plead guilty to five federal criminal charges, including that she supplied the ketamine that caused Matthew Perry's 2023 death, federal prosecutors announced on Monday.
Jasveen Sangha, 42, agreed to plead 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.
Sangha is a dual citizen of the United States and the United Kingdom and has been in federal custody since August 2024. She is expected to formally enter a guilty plea in the coming weeks, prosecutors said.
Five people are criminally charged in Perry's death, including two doctors, Sangha, her accomplice, and the actor's personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa.
According to her plea agreement, Sangha worked with Erik Fleming, 55, of Hawthorne, to provide Perry with ketamine. Prosecutors said that leading up to Perry's death, Iwamasa repeatedly injected Perry with the ketamine that Sangha supplied to Fleming.
The 54-year-old actor was found unresponsive in the jacuzzi of his Los Angeles home on Oct. 28, 2023, and according to prosecutors, Iwamasa had injected Perry with at least three shots of Sangha's ketamine.
The toxicology report released by the Los Angeles County medical examiner attributed Perry's cause of death to the "acute effects of ketamine," with contributing factors including "drowning, coronary artery disease, and buprenorphine effects." Buprenorphine is a medication used to treat opioid use disorder.
Prosecutors said that after learning of Perry's death, Sangha discussed with Fleming how they would distance themselves from the situation and deleted text communications between each other.
In her plea agreement, Sangha also admitted to selling ketamine to victim Cody McLaury in August 2019. McLaury died hours later from a drug overdose.
Sangha also admitted in her plea agreement to possessing with intent to distribute various drugs at her North Hollywood residence. She also admitted to storing and dealing drugs out of her home since at least June 2019.
In a 2023 search of her home, law enforcement found methamphetamine, ketamine, Ecstasy, counterfeit Xanax pills, cocaine, and other drug trafficking items, and $5,723 in cash.
Upon entering her guilty plea, Sangha will face at her sentencing hearing a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison on the drug-involved premises count, up to 10 years in federal prison for each ketamine distribution count, and up to 15 years in federal prison for the count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury.
Other defendants charged in Perry's death include San Diego physician Mark Chavez, who pleaded guilty in October 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, and "Dr. P.," Salvador Plasencia, 43, of Santa Monica. Plasencia pleaded guilty on July 23 to four counts of distribution of ketamine.
Fleming pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. Iwamasa pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, causing death.