UPDATE, Thursday, Aug. 15, at 3:25 p.m.:
Five arrests have now been made in the drug investigation surrounding the death of Matthew Perry. Among those charged this week are the Friends star’s personal assistant and two physicians, all implicated in causing his accidental overdose.
The suspects allegedly exploited Perry’s well-known struggles with drug addiction, which he had been transparent about in hopes of helping others, including in his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.
“The defendants in this case knew what they were doing was wrong,” said Martin Estrada, U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, at a news conference held by the Department of Justice, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Postal Service, and the Los Angeles Police Department.
Three of the defendants have already pleaded guilty to federal drug charges in connection with Perry’s death, while two others— including a woman known as “The Ketamine Queen,” accused of selling Perry the batch of ketamine that killed him—were arrested on Thursday, according to the Department of Justice.
The suspects include physicians Salvador Plascencia and Mark Chavez, accused drug dealer Jasveen Sangha, Perry’s live-in personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, and Erik Fleming, an acquaintance of the actor. All five have been charged with conspiracy to distribute ketamine and face maximum sentences ranging from 10 years to life in prison.
Over a two-month period in the fall of 2023, the group allegedly distributed approximately 20 vials of ketamine to Perry in exchange for $55,000 in cash. Plascencia reportedly mocked Perry in a text message, writing, “I wonder how much this moron will pay.”
