Support truly
independent journalism
One of the five people arrested in connection with the death of Friends star Matthew Perry was once a Hollywood director who worked with Scarlett Johansson.
Perry, who was best known for his portrayal of the sarcastic Chandler Bing in Friends, died in October 2023 at the age of 54, with a toxicology report concluding that he had died from “acute effects of ketamine”, which had caused him to drown in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home.
Yesterday (15 August) five people were arrested and charged with providing the much-loved actor with the ketamine that killed him.
Among them were two doctors, Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez, Perry’s live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa and Jasveen Sangha, the woman known as “the ketamine queen”.
The fifth defendant was Erik Fleming, a former director and producer who was described in court documents as an “acquaintance” of Perry’s.
The 54-year-old previously worked with a young Johansson and Eva Mendes on the 1999 children’s film My Brother the Pig and produced the 2003 season of reality show The Surreal Life, in which stars such as Cory Feldman and MC Hammer moved into a mansion together.
He also directed episodes of Queer Eye spin-off Queer Eye for the Straight Girl in 2005 and previously worked at the production company Rich Hippie.
The US Department of Justice said that Fleming had “coordinated the drug sales” of ketamine with Sangha and had “brought cash from Iwamasa to Sangha’s stash house in North Hollywood to buy vials of ketamine”.
Fleming pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
“These defendants took advantage of Mr Perry’s addiction issues to enrich themselves,” US Attorney Martin Estrada said. “They knew what they were doing was risking great danger to Mr Perry, but they did it anyway. In the end, these defendants were more interested in profiting.”
Iwamasa has pled guilty to one charge of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death, while Chavez, a physician based in San Diego, California, has pled guilty to a count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
Plasencia has pled not guilty to charges, with his trial set for 8 October. He was given permission to keep running his medical practice “not related to controlled substances” while on bail. However, he was told he must post a note at his office explaining the charges and that his patients must sign forms confirming that they understand these allegations. Sangha also pled not guilty.
At the time of Perry’s death, sources close to the actor said that the star had been undergoing ketamine infusion therapy to treat depression and anxiety. However his last scheduled therapy session was one and a half weeks before his death, and the coroner said that the ketamine found in his system “could not be from that therapy, since ketamine’s half-life is three to four hours, or less”.
