Matthew Perry’s live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, has been sentenced to three years and five months in prison for his central role in the actor’s fatal ketamine overdose.
Iwamasa, 60, received the sentence from Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett in a Los Angeles federal court, which also included two years of probation and a $10,000 fine.
This sentencing marks the fifth and final resolution in the 2 1/2-year investigation and prosecution following the death of the “Friends” star, who passed away at 54 on October 28, 2023.
Iwamasa was a constant presence in Perry’s final days, acting as an enabler, drug messenger, and de facto medical provider. He was the last person to see Perry alive and discovered his body in a Jacuzzi.
Iwamasa was the first to cooperate with prosecutors, pleading guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death.
His testimony became crucial to the prosecution’s case. His lawyers argued in a court filing that he was merely an employee following his employer’s bidding, highlighting a “particular vulnerability” in his relationship with Perry.
“In short, he could not ‘simply say no.’ That inability had tragic consequences,” they stated.
Perry’s family members, some of whom were expected to speak in court, made it unequivocally clear in letters submitted to the judge that they hold Iwamasa most responsible for the actor’s death.
They had considered Iwamasa a longtime friend, trusting him to help Perry maintain sobriety, but instead, he indulged the worst impulses of a lifelong addict, leading to devastating consequences.
The depth of this betrayal was powerfully articulated by Perry’s mother, Suzanne Morrison.
“Mathew trusted Kenny. We trusted Kenny. Kenny’s most important job — by far — was to be my son’s companion and guardian in his fight against addiction,” she wrote.
“We trusted a man without a conscience, and my son paid the price,” she added, conveying the family’s profound grief and sense of loss.
Perry had hired Iwamasa in 2022, paying him a substantial $150,000 annually to live at his Los Angeles home and serve as his personal assistant.
The actor had been legally taking the surgical anesthetic ketamine for depression, an increasingly common off-label use. However, he desired more of the drug than his doctor was willing to provide.
According to Iwamasa’s plea agreement, he sourced off-the-books ketamine from another doctor, Salvador Plasencia, who also taught him how to inject it.
Plasencia was subsequently sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison in July. Iwamasa also began purchasing ketamine from Erik Fleming, an acquaintance of Perry’s, who obtained the drug from a street dealer.
Fleming received a two-year prison sentence two weeks prior. The dealer, Jasveen Sangha, notoriously dubbed “The Ketamine Queen,” was sentenced to 15 years on April 8.
In the final days of Perry’s life, Iwamasa was injecting him with ketamine six to eight times per day. On October 23, 2023, he administered a large dose to the 54-year-old actor before leaving to run errands. Upon his return, he tragically discovered Perry deceased in the Jacuzzi.
The LA County Medical Examiner found that ketamine was the primary cause of death, with drowning identified as a secondary cause.
Initially, Iwamasa lied to police, omitting ketamine from the list of medications Perry was using and saying nothing about his injections. However, when investigators served a search warrant in January 2024, he began to cooperate fully with authorities.
Matthew Perry rose to global stardom alongside Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, and Lisa Kudrow in “Friends,” NBC’s hugely successful sitcom that ran from 1994 to 2004, becoming one of the biggest stars of his generation.
