Assistant to Matthew Perry to Be Sentenced for Role in Overdose Death
Kenneth Iwamasa, the personal assistant who administered ketamine to Friends actor Matthew Perry multiple times without medical training, including on the day Perry was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home, is scheduled for sentencing on Wednesday.
Iwamasa, 61, pleaded guilty to charges of distributing ketamine that resulted in death or serious bodily injury. Prosecutors are recommending a sentence of three years and five months in prison.
This sentencing will conclude the investigation into five individuals implicated in Perry’s 2023 overdose death.
Other Sentences in the Case
The longest sentences were given to two other key figures: a drug dealer known as the “Ketamine queen,” who supplied the fatal dose, and Erik Fleming, a drug addiction counselor who acted as an intermediary in the drug sale. Sangha, the dealer, is expected to serve 15 years in prison, while Fleming faces approximately two years behind bars.
A former doctor who continued to supply Iwamasa with ketamine after Perry experienced an adverse reaction—two weeks before his death, which left Perry mute and immobile—was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Another doctor, Mark Chavez, who sold ketamine to Perry, will not serve prison time; he received eight months of home detention and three years of supervised release in December.
Context of Iwamasa’s Role and Relationship with Perry
Iwamasa’s case has elicited some sympathy within Hollywood circles, where the dynamic between a celebrity and their assistant is often viewed as a significant power imbalance.
He “could not ‘simply say no’,” Iwamasa’s attorneys reportedly wrote in a court filing.
From 2022 to 2023, Iwamasa was employed as Perry’s live-in personal assistant. The two had known each other for over 20 years.
Perry, who had publicly discussed his struggles with opioid addiction, enlisted Iwamasa’s assistance in the fall of 2023 to acquire ketamine—an anesthetic that is legal only when prescribed and can induce mind-altering effects, including sedation.
Although Perry had initially sought ketamine infusion therapy at a clinic to treat anxiety and depression, he turned to external sources to increase his dosage, according to federal authorities.
Details of Drug Procurement and Administration
Prosecutors state that Iwamasa paid Plasencia at least $55,000 to purchase ketamine on multiple occasions between September and October 2023. Iwamasa was also connected to the drug through Fleming.
In the three days preceding Perry’s death, Iwamasa injected the actor with six to eight doses of ketamine daily, according to court documents. Authorities report that Iwamasa found Perry unresponsive at least twice during that month.
Family’s Response to Iwamasa’s Actions
In letters addressed to the judge, Perry’s family condemned Iwamasa’s conduct.
The actor’s mother, Suzanne Morrison, said the family trusted Iwamasa to help Perry remain sober. She said: “Kenny knew, should he feel unduly pressured, that with one phone call to any number of the people in Matthew’s orbit, reinforcements would be on the way.”
Perry’s sister, Madeline Morrison, described Iwamasa’s behavior in the days following her brother’s death as “unsettled.”
“He repeatedly volunteered his version of events without being asked, as if he were being interviewed rather than mourning a friend,” she said.
“At the time, I told myself he was simply in shock, grieving as we all were. 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.”
