Kenneth Iwamasa, the personal assistant who injected Matthew Perry with the ketamine that killed him, has been sentenced to 41 months in federal prison.
The sentence was handed down Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett, who also fined Iwamasa $10,000.
He is the fifth and final defendant sentenced in connection with Perry’s death in October 2023, ending a legal process that has wound its way through the courts for nearly two years.
Iwamasa, who had known the Friends star since 1992 and began working as his live-in personal assistant in 2022, pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death and serious bodily injury.
His role in Perry’s death was direct and damning.
On October 28, 2023, he gave the actor at least three injections of ketamine, drugs he had obtained from a supply chain that ultimately traced back to Jasveen Sangha, known in court documents as the “Ketamine Queen.”
The injections caused Perry’s death.
The court heard Iwamasa was fully aware of Perry’s addiction history and was not a trained medical professional.
Prosecutors were unsparing in their assessment, writing in their sentencing position that instead of helping Perry maintain sobriety, Iwamasa “became his enabler and drug supplier.”
Her responsibilities as an assistant explicitly included coordinating Perry’s medical care and ensuring that he only took legally prescribed medications.
He was paid $150,000 a year for the role.
The chain of events that led to Perry’s death involved several co-conspirators.
Doctor Salvador Plasencia, who has since renounced his medical license, supplied 20 vials, multiple tablets and syringes of ketamine worth $57,000, and personally taught Iwamasa how to administer the drug by injection.
At one point, Plasencia injected Perry with a dose that caused the actor to “freeze,” prompting the doctor to say, “Let’s not do that again,” but Iwamasa subsequently secured a new supply through drug counselor Erik Fleming, who obtained it from Sangha.
Iwamasa’s conduct after Perry’s death concluded the original crimes.
When police arrived at the residence following their 911 call, they deliberately omitted ketamine from the list of medications Perry had been taking and concealed that he had given himself injections.
He also destroyed evidence in the days before Perry’s death and called Fleming to tell him he had “deleted everything.”
Sangha is serving 15 years in federal prison.
Plasencia received two and a half years, and Fleming two years. With Iwamasa now sentenced, the legal chapter on one of Hollywood’s most devastating losses is finally closed.
