‘Ketamine Queen’ to plead guilty in Matthew Perry death

Los Angeles, California – A San Fernando Valley woman has admitted to playing a central role in the drug operation that led to the overdose death of actor Matthew Perry, federal prosecutors announced this week.

Jasveen Sangha, 42, who prosecutors say went by the nickname “Ketamine Queen,” has agreed to plead guilty to five felony charges, including distribution of ketamine resulting in death. The North Hollywood resident, who holds dual citizenship in the United States and the United Kingdom, has been in federal custody since last summer and is expected to formally enter her plea in the coming weeks.

The case ties together the hidden, illicit networks of drug trafficking with one of Hollywood’s most visible battles with addiction. Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing on Friends, was candid in his memoir and public appearances about the toll drugs and alcohol had taken on his life. In October 2023, those struggles ended tragically.

According to her plea agreement, Sangha worked with co-defendant Erik Fleming, 55, of Hawthorne, to supply Perry with 51 vials of ketamine. Those vials were handed off to Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, 60, who injected Perry multiple times on the day of his death. Prosecutors say that at least three shots of Sangha’s ketamine on October 28 caused Perry’s fatal overdose.

When news of Perry’s death broke, Sangha and Fleming immediately began discussing how to shield themselves from responsibility. Using the encrypted messaging app Signal, Sangha told Fleming to delete their messages and changed her own settings to automatically wipe communications. “Delete all our messages,” she instructed.

But investigators uncovered far more than just Perry’s supply. Sangha admitted she had been using her North Hollywood home as a base for drug trafficking since 2019. When police searched the residence in March 2023, they found more than a kilogram of methamphetamine pills, nearly 80 vials of liquid ketamine, MDMA, counterfeit Xanax, and cocaine. Alongside the drugs were the trappings of a small but profitable business: a money counter, scales, packaging materials, and thousands of dollars in cash.

Sangha also admitted to selling ketamine in a 2019 case that ended in another overdose death, that of Cody McLaury.

She now faces a potential decades-long sentence. The drug-involved premises count carries a maximum of 20 years, each of the three distribution counts carries up to 10 years, and the charge tied to Perry’s death carries up to 15.

Her co-defendants, including Fleming, Iwamasa, and others, have all entered guilty pleas of their own and await sentencing later this year.

What emerges from the case is not just a cautionary tale of celebrity and addiction, but also a reminder of how lethal — and organized — the underground market for ketamine and other synthetic drugs has become in Los Angeles.