The years-long legal process following the 2023 death of beloved *Friends* star Matthew Perry has reached its final chapter, with the actor’s live-in personal assistant receiving a 41-month federal prison sentence for his role in the overdose that killed Perry.
Sixty-year-old Kenneth Iwamasa, who had no formal medical training, admitted to conspiring with two licensed doctors to supply Perry with more than $50,000 worth of ketamine in the weeks leading up to the actor’s death. Court records confirm Iwamasa personally injected Perry with the dissociative drug multiple times, including several doses on the day Perry died.
Perry, who spoke publicly for decades about his long-running battle with substance addiction, was found unresponsive in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home in October 2023. Medical examiners later ruled his death an acute ketamine overdose, with drowning listed as a contributing cause.
Iwamasa entered a guilty plea in August 2024 on one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death, a charge that carried a maximum penalty of 15 years behind bars. In addition to his 41-month prison term, he was ordered to serve two years of supervised release following incarceration and pay a $10,000 fine.
During Wednesday’s sentencing hearing in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom, Iwamasa addressed Perry’s family directly from the witness stand, issuing a public apology for his actions. “I’m so sorry to all of you. I’m just so sorry to have done illegal acts that I will forever regret. I will take it to my grave,” he said, adding that he hoped his case would serve as a warning to others in similar positions to choose differently.
In her sentencing remarks, U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett highlighted two key aggravating factors: Iwamasa’s full knowledge of Perry’s history of addiction, and his choice to conceal evidence related to his role after the actor’s death.
Members of Perry’s family submitted pre-sentencing letters to the judge outlining their position on the case, with many expressing harsh condemnation of Iwamasa’s breach of trust. Perry’s mother, Suzanne Morrison, noted that Iwamasa’s core responsibility was to support Perry’s recovery and keep him free of drugs, with clear protocols in place to call for help if he felt overwhelmed. Instead, she wrote, Iwamasa facilitated repeated illegal drug use and arranged for multiple drug suppliers. “We trusted a man without a conscience, and my son paid the price,” she wrote.
Perry’s sister Caitlin Morrison added that on the night of the actor’s death, Iwamasa either fled the scene knowing he had caused harm or intentionally abandoned a vulnerable person in a life-threatening situation, writing she had no sympathy for Iwamasa. Another sister, Madeline Morrison, argued that Iwamasa bore greater responsibility for Perry’s death than ketamine supplier Jasveen Sangha.
Prosecutors had requested the 41-month sentence that the judge ultimately handed down. Iwamasa was the first of five defendants charged in the case to reach a plea deal, and the last to receive his sentence.
All five co-defendants have now pleaded guilty to their respective charges and been sentenced. Sangha, the Los Angeles-based supplier known as the “Ketamine Queen”, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in April 2024. Dr. Salvador Plasencia, one of the doctors who supplied Perry with ketamine, received a 30-month prison sentence last December. A second doctor involved, Dr. Mark Chavez, was sentenced to eight months of home detention and three years of supervised release the same month. Erik Fleming, who sourced ketamine from Sangha, was sentenced to two years in prison earlier this month, along with three years of supervised release and a $200 fine.
Federal prosecutors have alleged that the entire network exploited Perry’s well-documented addiction for profit, knowingly supplying him with large quantities of ketamine that directly led to his fatal overdose.