New details surrounding Matthew Perry’s final weeks are being revealed after his former personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death.
According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly, Iwamasa injected the Friends star with “significant quantities of ketamine” in the month he died.
Between October 24 and October 27, 2023, Iwamasa injected Perry “with approximately 6-8 shots per day,” the plea agreement stated. During the month of October 2023, Iwamasa also found Perry “unconscious at his residence on at least two occasions.”
On October 28, 2023, Iwamasa injected Perry with a shot of ketamine at approximately 8:30 a.m. and just four hours later, injected a second shot around 12:45 p.m. while Perry watched a movie.
The late Matthew Perry is survived by his big family following the actor’s sudden death at the age of 54. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of our beloved son and brother,” they shared in a statement on Sunday, October 29. “Matthew brought so much joy to the world, both as an actor and […]
Then, after a mere 40 minutes, Perry asked Iwamasa to prepare the jacuzzi and told him to “shoot me up with a big one,” referring to another shot of ketamine, according to the docs.
After injecting Perry with the third shot of ketamine, Iwamasa left the residence to run errands for the Emmy nominee. After returning to the residence, he found the actor face down in the jacuzzi.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner Medical conducted an autopsy and later determined Perry’s cause of death was “acute effects of ketamine.” A toxicology report also listed drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine (which is used to treat opioid use) as contributing factors.
According to court documents, all of the ketamine Iwamasa administered to Perry on October 28, 2023, had been provided by Erik Fleming and his unnamed drug source.
In October 2023, Iwamasa sent a text message to Fleming to ask about purchasing ketamine. According to court documents, Iwamasa referred to himself as “Batman’s Butler.”
That same month, Fleming forwarded a screenshot of text messages he exchanged with his ketamine source that stated the ketamine was “unmarked but amazing” and his dealer “only deal[s] with high end and celebs.”
Court documents stated that Perry would provide Iwamasa with money or promised to reimburse him if he found sources who could acquire the drugs.
Warner Bros. Television/Getty Images The late Matthew Perry will always be remembered by the Friends cast. “We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family,” the show’s stars, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer, told Us Weekly […]
On Thursday, August 15, authorities announced that Iwamasa, Fleming, Jasveen Sangha (a.k.a. “the Ketamine Queen”), Dr. Mark Chavez and Dr. Salvador Plasencia have all been charged in a death investigation surrounding Perry.
Fleming pleaded guilty on August 8 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, Fleming admitted in court documents that he distributed the ketamine that killed Perry.
According to the United States Attorney’s Office, Chavez has also agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
Plascencia pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, seven counts of distribution of ketamine and two counts of altering and falsifying documents or records related to the investigation. Sangha has not publicly commented on the case.
Perry’s stepfather, Keith Morrison, previously spoke out after five people were federally charged for the Friends alum’s death.
“We were and still are heartbroken by Matthew’s death,” Morrison and family said in a statement to NBC News on Thursday, August 15. “But it has helped to know law enforcement has taken his case very seriously. We look forward to justice taking its course.”
Reporting by Andrea Simpson