A woman known as the “Ketamine Queen,” who was charged with selling Matthew Perry the drug that killed him, has agreed to a plea deal.
Jasveen Sangha agreed to plead guilty Monday, becoming the fifth and final person implicated in the death of the “Friends” star to do so.
Sangha, who was cast by federal prosecutors as a prolific drug dealer and initially pleaded not guilty to three charges, will now avoid her trial that was scheduled to begin in August.
Perry, 54, who was internationally known for his portrayal of Chandler Bing on the immensely popular U.S. sitcom, was found dead in a hot tub at his home on October 28 2023. A medical examiner later ruled that ketamine was his primary cause of death.
The actor had been using the drug through his regular doctor in a legal but off-label treatment for depression that has become increasingly common.
Sangha was one of five people charged over the actor’s death.
The others are Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who injected Perry on the day of his death according to court filings; San Diego ketamine clinic owner Dr Mark Chavez; Erik Fleming, who pled guilty to providing Perry with ketamine, and Dr. Salvador Plasencia was also charged with distributing the drug to Perry.
A federal indictment charged Sangha with 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.
She and Plasencia, who signed his own plea deal June 16, had been the primary targets of the investigation.
The three others agreed to plead guilty last year in exchange for their cooperation, which included statements implicating Sangha and Plasencia.
Prosecutors alleged that Perry had sought more ketamine than his doctor would give him and began began getting it from Plasencia about a month before his death, then started getting still more from Sangha about two weeks before his death.
He and Iwamasa found Sangha through Perry’s friend Fleming. In their plea agreements, both men described the subsequent deals in detail.
Fleming messaged Iwamasa saying Sangha’s ketamine was “unmarked but it’s amazing,” according to court documents. Fleming texted Iwamasa that she only deals “with high end and celebs.” “If it were not great stuff she’d lose her business,” his messages read.
Perry subsequently bought large amounts of ketamine from Sangha, including 25 vials for $6,000 in cash four days before his death. That purchase included the doses that killed Perry, prosecutors said.
On the day of Perry’s death, Sangha told Fleming they should delete all the messages they had sent each other, according to her indictment.
Her home in North Hollywood, California, was raided in March 2024 by Drug Enforcement Administration agents who found large amounts of methamphetamines and ketamine, according to an affidavit from an agent. She was indicted that June, arrested that August and has been held in jail since.
None of the defendants has yet been sentenced.
Perry struggled with addiction for years, dating back to his time on “Friends,” when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing. He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC’s megahit series.
