A woman known as the “Ketamine Queen” has pleaded guilty to selling Matthew Perry the drug that killed him.
Jasveen Sangha, 42, has pleaded guilty to five federal charges, which includes supplying the ketamine that led to the Friends star’s death. Perry was found dead in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023, and an autopsy revealed he died from the “acute effects of ketamine”.
Sangha’s trial had been planned to start later this month. She is the fifth and final defendant charged in Perry’s death to admit guilt in relation to it.
Perry’s mother, Suzanne Perry, and his stepfather, “Dateline” reporter Keith Morrison, sat in the audience. Prosecutors had cast Sangha as a prolific drug dealer who was known to her customers as the “Ketamine Queen”, using the term often in press releases and court documents.
(Image: INSTAGRAM)
Following a deal she signed on Aug. 18, Sangha (a citizen of both the US and UK) pleaded guilty to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.
While the plea deal was announced, her lawyer Mark Geragos said in a short statement that she was “taking responsibility for her actions”. Prosecutors agreed to drop three other counts related to the distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of methamphetamine that was unrelated to the Perry case.
Sangha is scheduled to be sentenced on December 10, and she could be facing up to 65 years in prison. None of the co-defendants have been sentenced yet but are all due to be sentenced.
(Image: Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Sangha’s plea deal came a year after federal prosecutors announced that five people had been charged in Perry’s death after a sweeping investigation. The judge is not bound to follow any terms of the plea agreement, but prosecutors said in the document that they will ask for less than the maximum sentence.
Sangha and Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who pleaded guilty in July, had been the primary targets of the investigation. Three other defendants – Dr. Mark Chavez, Kenneth Iwamasa and Erik Fleming – pleaded guilty in exchange for their cooperation, which included statements implicating Sangha and Plasencia.
(Image: Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Perry, 54, was found dead in his Los Angeles home by his assistant, Iwamasa. The medical examiner ruled that ketamine was the primary cause of Perry’s death.
The actor had struggled with drug addiction for years, but prior to his death had been sober an extended period of time. A year before he died, he released a memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, about his battle with addiction as well as his rise to fame on Friends.
Perry had been using ketamine through his regular doctor as a legal, but off-label, treatment for depression. However, he sought more ketamine than his doctor would prescribe him, and so he ended up finding Sangha through his friend Fleming about two weeks before his death, prosecutors said.
Fleming messaged Perry’s assistant saying her ketamine was “amazing”. Perry bought large amounts of ketamine from Sangha, including 25 vials for $6,000 in cash four days before his death, 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. Sangha has been in federal custody for about a year.
Perry shot to global stardom as Chandler Bing on Friends. He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on the iconic sitcom.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
