Kenneth Iwamasa, the personal assistant who injected Matthew Perry with the ketamine that killed him, has been sentenced to 41 months in federal prison.
The sentence was handed down Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett, who also fined Iwamasa $10,000.
He is the fifth and final defendant to be sentenced in connection with Perry’s death in October 2023, bringing to a close a legal process that has wound through the courts for nearly two years.
Iwamasa who had known Friends star since 1992 and began working as his live-in personal assistant in 2022, pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death and serious bodily injury.
His role in Perry’s death was direct and damning.
On October 28, 2023, he injected the actor with at least three shots of ketamine, drugs he obtained from a supply chain ultimately traced back to Jasveen Sangha, known in court documents as the “Ketamine Queen.”
The injections caused Perry’s death.
The court heard Iwamasa was fully aware of Perry’s history of addiction and was not a trained doctor.
Prosecutors were sparing in their assessment, writing in their sentencing that instead of helping Perry maintain sobriety, Iwamasa “became his enabler and drug supplier.”
His responsibilities as an assistant had explicitly included coordinating Perry’s medical care and ensuring that he only took his legally prescribed medication.
He was paid $150,000 a year for the role.
The chain of events that led to Perry’s death involved several co-conspirators.
Doctor Salvador Plasencia – who has since surrendered his medical license – supplied 20 vials, several tablets and syringes of $57,000 worth of ketamine and personally taught Iwamasa how to administer the drug by injection.
At one point, Plasencia injected Perry with a dose that caused the actor to “freeze solid”, prompting the doctor to say “Let’s not do that again”, but Iwamasa subsequently arranged for a fresh supply through drug advisor Erik Fleming, who obtained it from Sangha.
Iwamasa’s conduct in the wake of Perry’s death ended the original offenses.
When police arrived at the residence after his 911 call, he deliberately omitted ketamine from the list of drugs Perry had taken and concealed the fact that he had given injections.
He also destroyed evidence in the days before Perry’s death, calling Fleming to tell him he had “deleted everything”.
Sangha is serving 15 years in federal prison.
Plasencia got two and a half years, and Fleming two years. With Iwamasa now convicted, the legal chapter of one of Hollywood’s most devastating losses is finally closed.
