Matthew Perry’s former live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, is scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday in connection with the ketamine overdose death of the “Friends” star in 2023. Iwamasa is the fifth and final person to be sentenced in a case prosecutors described as a conspiracy to illegally supply ketamine to Perry. He pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death and faces a possible sentence of up to 15 years in prison.
According to prosecutors, Iwamasa repeatedly injected Perry with ketamine in the weeks before his death, despite lacking medical training. They say he administered the fatal dose on October 28, 2023, after having already given Perry multiple injections in the days before. Prosecutors allege that Iwamasa witnessed warning signs, including times when Perry was found unconscious and an episode in which the actor appeared to “freeze up” after a large injection, but continued to provide the drug anyway. On the day Perry died, prosecutors say Iwamasa injected him twice, then gave him a third dose after Perry asked him to prepare the jacuzzi and “shoot me up a big one.” When Iwamasa returned from running errands, he found Perry dead, face down in the jacuzzi.
Prosecutors also accuse Iwamasa of helping cover up the crime after Perry’s death by cleaning up ketamine bottles and syringes and omitting ketamine from the medication list he gave police after calling 911. They say he later provided substantial cooperation to investigators, including information about other defendants, and are recommending a prison sentence of 41 months.
Defense lawyers argue that Iwamasa was acting at Perry’s direction and not using independent judgment. They say he was an employee who did what the actor wanted and that other people outside Perry’s inner circle also participated in the drug scheme. Prosecutors, however, portray him as a trusted aide who betrayed that role by becoming both an enabler and a supplier.
Perry’s mother, in a victim impact statement, said the family had trusted Iwamasa because they believed he understood her son’s struggle with addiction. She wrote that his most important duty was to help keep Perry drug free, but instead he helped arrange sources of ketamine and injected the drug into Perry himself, even though the danger was obvious.
The case has already led to several other sentencings. Jasveen Sangha, known as the “Ketamine Queen,” was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to drug distribution charges, including distribution resulting in death or serious bodily injury. Erik Fleming received a two-year sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy and distribution charges. Two doctors, Mark Chavez and Salvador Plasencia, were also sentenced last year and in December 2025 after admitting roles in obtaining and supplying ketamine that eventually reached Perry.
