Kenneth Iwamasa, the former personal assistant to Matthew Perry, who administered the fatal dose of ketamine to the Friends star on the day of his death, has been sentenced to more than three years in prison. Iwamasa, 60, was the first of five individuals implicated in Perry's death to reach a plea agreement with prosecutors in August 2024.
In addition to the 41-month prison term, Iwamasa was ordered to pay fines of $10,000 and $100, and will be under supervised release for two years. He must surrender to authorities by noon on July 17 to begin his sentence.
Perry died at age 54 in October 2023 after drowning in a jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home, following a ketamine overdose. Prosecutors had requested a 41-month sentence, but Iwamasa sought leniency, claiming he could not "simply say no" to the actor.
In exchange for pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death, Iwamasa agreed to serve as a key witness against others charged in connection with Perry's death. Perry paid Iwamasa $150,000 a year as his live-in assistant, and it was Iwamasa who injected the actor with the ultimately fatal doses of ketamine on October 28, 2023. He left Perry to run errands and returned to find him dead in the jacuzzi.
Destruction of Evidence
Iwamasa disagreed with prosecutors' claims that he could have refused Perry's request for ketamine, according to court documents obtained by TMZ. He was also accused of destroying evidence of Perry's drug use after his death. One hour after Perry's death, Iwamasa sought to cover up proof of the actor's drug use at his Pacific Palisades home, according to a federal prosecutors' filing reviewed by TMZ.
Iwamasa pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death after Department of Justice officials said he "repeatedly" and "without medical training" injected the actor with lethal amounts of ketamine. After Perry was found face down in his jacuzzi, Iwamasa worked to destroy hard copies and digital evidence of the actor's ketamine use. Prosecutors said Iwamasa instructed another person to dispose of proof linking the network of individuals who supplied drugs to Perry.
Iwamasa, a native of Toluca Lake, California, was untruthful multiple times during the investigation. He tried to conceal that he had personally administered several shots of ketamine to Perry in the hours before his death. He also falsely claimed Perry was responsible for hiding ketamine bottles in the home, prosecutors said.
A person identified as "B.M." was ordered by Iwamasa to collect physical evidence of Perry's drug abuse, including ketamine vials and syringes, and dispose of it immediately. Iwamasa also told an associate that other items, such as a written prescription for ketamine and a note linking Dr. Salvador Plasencia to Perry's drug network, had to be shredded. He informed Erik Fleming, another associate, that he "cleaned up the scene" after Perry's death, destroyed physical evidence, changed Perry's digital passwords, and "deleted everything" from computers to cover up the star's ketamine use.
Victim Impact Statements
Perry's sisters, Caitlin and Madeline Morrison, criticized Iwamasa in statements submitted to U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Garnett in a May 20 court filing reviewed by People. "It is difficult to put into words the sense of betrayal I felt when I found out what Kenny had done," Madeline Morrison said. "In many ways, it felt like my brother died all over again. Everything I believed about the day he died - everything Kenny told us - was a lie." She said that "the idea that someone my brother considered family could betray him in such an unimaginable way is something I never could have conceived."
Madeline noted that Iwamasa's behavior was suspicious after Perry's death. "A few days after Matthew died, my sister and I went to choose clothes for him to be buried in - one of the most surreal and heartbreaking experiences of my life," she said. "I remember how manic and unsettled Kenny seemed. He repeatedly volunteered his version of events without being asked, as if he were being interviewed rather than mourning a friend." She added, "In reality he was trying to distract us from the truth: that he had injected my brother with a lethal dose of ketamine and left him in a hot tub to die."
Related Sentencings
Iwamasa's sentencing comes two weeks after Perry's drug counselor, Erik Fleming, was ordered to serve two years in prison. An emotional Fleming said: "It's truly a nightmare I can't wake up from. I'm haunted by the mistakes I made." A judge ordered Fleming, who had been free on bond, to turn himself in within 45 days and serve three years of probation.
This followed the sentencing of Perry's "Ketamine Queen" drug dealer, Jasveen Sangha, who received 15 years in prison plus three years of supervised release. Sangha pleaded guilty to five federal charges related to Perry's death and has been in federal custody since her arrest in August 2024. Fleming connected Perry to Sangha and later cooperated with investigators.
Prosecutors wrote in a filing that "Sangha's actions show a cold callousness and disregard for life. She chose profits over people, and her actions have caused immense pain to the victims' families and loved ones." Sangha's defense team argued that she "acknowledged her role in serious criminal behavior" and requested a sentence based on time served. "She does not minimize that conduct or the gravity of the consequences charged in this case," the lawyers added.
According to U.S. attorneys, Sangha collaborated with Fleming to supply ketamine to Perry. In the month of Perry's death, Sangha and Fleming sold 51 vials of ketamine to the actor, which were then handed over to Iwamasa.
Perry battled addiction for many years, a struggle that intensified during his time on Friends, where he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing. His rise to fame alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer from 1994 to 2004 was overshadowed by personal struggles. Perry openly admitted that his addiction issues frequently interfered with his work during those years.
