Federal officials said they have brought charges against five individuals in the death of actor Matthew Perry last year.
The defendants included two doctors and the actor’s personal assistant who falsely prescribed, sold or injected the ketamine that caused Perry’s death, they said.
In the United States, most forms of Ketamine are only approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for anesthesia.
“Here, Matthew Perry sought treatment for depression and anxiety and went to a local clinic where he became addicted to intravenous ketamine,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said Thursday during a press conference at the U.S. Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. "When clinic doctors refused to increase his dosage, he turned to unscrupulous doctors who saw Perry as a way to make quick money.”
Los Angeles police said in May that they were working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service with a probe into why the 54-year-old had so much of the surgical anesthetic in his system.
An assistant found Perry face down in his hot tub on Oct. 28 of last year. Paramedics who were called immediately declared him dead. His autopsy, released in December, found that the amount of ketamine in his blood was in the range used for general anesthesia during surgery.
On Thursday, the U.S. Attorney said they were bringing charges against accused ketamine dealer Jasveen Sangha, also known as "The Ketamine Queen;" Salvador Plasencia, a doctor at an urgent care center who provided Perry with ketamine; Kenneth Iwamasa, Perry’s personal assistant who admitted to injecting Perry with ketamine on the day he died; Mark Chavez, a doctor based in San Diego who has already pled guilty to diverting ketamine from his clinic; and Erik Fleming, an acquaintance of the actor who has pled guilty to distributing ketamine resulting in death.
Plasencia and Sangha pleaded not guilty
A search of Singha’s home found 80 vials of ketamine, thousands of methamphetamine pills, cocaine, bottles and Xanax and other illegally obtained prescription drugs, the U.S. attorney said.
The U.S. Attorney alleged the defendants tried to cover up what they had done. On October 28, Singha wrote a text message to Fleming saying he should delete all of their messages. Defendant Plasencia also falsified medical records and notes to try and make it look like what he was doing was legitimate, the authorities said.
The five defendants are charged with conspiracy to distribute ketamine, distribution of ketamine resulting in death, altering and falsifying record related to a federal investigation and other drug trafficking counts.
Singha could face life in prison if convicted. Plasencia could face 120 years in federal prison.
Decades-old, ketamine has seen a huge surge in use in recent years as a treatment for depression, anxiety and pain. People close to Perry told coroner’s investigators that he was undergoing ketamine infusion therapy.
But the medical examiner said Perry’s last treatment 1 1/2 weeks earlier wouldn’t explain the levels of ketamine in his blood. The drug is typically metabolized in a matter of hours. At least two doctors were treating Perry, a psychiatrist and an anesthesiologist who served as his primary care physician, the medical examiner’s report said. No illicit drugs or paraphernalia were found at his house.
Ketamine was listed as the primary cause of death, which was ruled an accident with no foul play suspected, the report said. Drowning and other medical issues were contributing factors, the coroner said.
Perry had years of struggles with addiction dating back to his time on “Friends,” when he became one of the biggest television stars of his generation as Chandler Bing alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC’s megahit sitcom.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.