‘Ketamine Queen’ sentenced to 15 years in Matthew Perry death case

Matthew Perry’s fatal overdose case reached a major turning point as Jayvee Sangha — the alleged drug supplier known as the “Ketamine Queen” — was sentenced in the US to 15 years in prison for her role in delivering the ketamine dose that killed the Friends actor.

Sangha, 42, admitted she operated a “stash house” for illegal narcotics from her home in Los Angeles’ North Hollywood neighbourhood and pleaded guilty in September to five felony drug charges linked to Mr Perry’s 2023 death.

Sangha, 42, who holds dual US and British citizenship, had been facing a maximum sentence of 65 years behind bars.

US District Judge Sherilyn Garnett handed down the 15-year prison term, a stiffer punishment than those imposed on any of Sangha’s four co-defendants, among them two doctors.

Her lawyers had asked the court to restrict the sentence to the time she had already served.

Sangha has remained in custody since August 2024.

Mr Perry, best known for portraying Chandler Bing in Friends, was found dead in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home in October 2023. He was 54.

An autopsy revealed elevated levels of ketamine in his body, setting off an investigation that exposed a web of suppliers and facilitators, including two physicians and Mr Perry’s live-in personal assistant.

Ketamine is a fast-acting but powerful anesthetic with hallucinogenic effects that is sometimes prescribed for depression and other mental health conditions.

In recent years, it has also become increasingly popular as an illegal party drug.

Mr Perry had spoken openly about decades of substance abuse during and after his rise to fame as the sharp-tongued yet lovable Chandler Bing on the 1990s NBC sitcom Friends.

His death came one year after the release of his memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” in which he described struggles with addiction to prescription painkillers and alcohol that, he wrote, had brought him close to suicide on more than one occasion.

In the months leading up to his death, Mr Perry had said he was sober again. But federal investigators said he had been receiving medically supervised ketamine infusions for depression and anxiety at a clinic, where he developed an addiction to the drug.

After doctors there declined to raise his dosage, authorities said, Mr Perry sought out providers prepared to profit from his dependency.

Within weeks, he died from an overdose of ketamine supplied by Sangha, who customers knew on the street as the ‘Ketamine Queen’.

Sangha admitted selling 51 vials of ketamine to middleman dealer Erik Fleming, who then passed the doses to Mr Perry through the actor’s personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa.

Prosecutors said Iwamasa later injected Mr Perry with at least three shots of ketamine from the vials Sangha had provided, causing the actor’s death.

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

Sangha also admitted she knew the vials she sold to Fleming were meant for Mr Perry.

She further acknowledged selling ketamine in August 2019 to another person who died of an overdose hours later.

Fleming, Iwamasa and the two doctors charged in the case — Mark Chavez and Salvador Plasencia — have all pleaded guilty to federal drug offences tied to the case.

Credit: Reuters