A woman once known by her customers as the “Ketamine Queen” stood in a Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday and admitted to supplying the drugs that killed Matthew Perry.
Jasveen Sangha, 42, had long denied the charges against her. But facing a looming trial and overwhelming evidence, she changed her plea to guilty on five counts, including distribution of ketamine resulting in death. It was a dramatic turn in the federal case that began nearly a year ago, when prosecutors charged five people in connection with the Friends actor’s fatal overdose. Sangha’s plea makes her the final defendant to fold.
Wearing tan jail garb, Sangha appeared subdued as Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett asked her to enter her pleas one by one. Each time, she responded softly: “guilty.” Her lawyer, Mark Geragos, stood beside her. When pressed about whether she knew the drugs were bound for Perry, she hedged. “There was no way I could tell 100%,” she said. Asked again, she admitted she wasn’t sure if “all of them or some of them” went directly to him. The equivocation didn’t derail the deal.
Prosecutors have painted Sangha as more than just a casual supplier. In filings, they repeatedly used the moniker “Ketamine Queen,” describing her as a dealer with a reputation for catering to wealthy, high-profile clients. On Instagram, Sangha showcased a jet-set lifestyle—posting pictures with celebrities and backdrops in luxury destinations. But investigators say the glossy veneer hid a drug pipeline that ultimately reached Perry.
She pled guilty to maintaining a drug-involved premises and distributing ketamine on multiple occasions, including in quantities that directly led to Perry’s death. In exchange, prosecutors dropped three other counts. She will face up to 65 years in prison when she’s sentenced in December.
The guilty plea caps months of cooperation from her co-defendants. Dr. Salvador Plasencia, another central figure in the case, admitted guilt in July. Three others—Dr. Mark Chavez, Kenneth Iwamasa, and Erik Fleming—pleaded guilty earlier, each pointing to Sangha’s role in the network.
According to prosecutors, Perry had been legally prescribed ketamine as part of an off-label treatment for depression, but he wanted more than his doctor would allow. That search led him to Sangha through Fleming. Just four days before his death, he allegedly paid her $6,000 in cash for 25 vials. Fleming later described her product as “amazing” and boasted that she only dealt “with high-end and celebs.”
On October 28, 2023, Perry was found unresponsive in his Los Angeles home by his assistant, Iwamasa. The coroner determined ketamine was the primary cause of death.
Sangha has been in custody for nearly a year, awaiting trial. On the day Perry died, prosecutors say, she messaged Fleming urging him to delete their conversations.
Perry’s death was a reminder of how addiction shadowed him for decades, even as he became one of television’s most beloved figures. Known to millions as Chandler Bing on Friends, his struggle with substance use was never a secret. Now, with the “Ketamine Queen” admitting her role, the federal case around his final days has reached its end.
