Actor Matthew Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing in the iconic television series Friends, died from a fatal ketamine overdose in October 2023.
U.S. prosecutors have now confirmed that Jasveen Sangha, a Los Angeles drug dealer nicknamed the “ketamine queen,” will plead guilty to charges linking her directly to Perry’s death.
According to the Justice Department, Sangha, 42, ran a narcotics “stash house” in North Hollywood where she stored and distributed drugs, including ketamine and methamphetamine. She admitted to supplying 51 vials of ketamine that were eventually injected into Perry by his personal assistant, leading to the actor’s loss of consciousness and drowning in his hot tub on October 28, 2023. Perry was 54.
Medical examiners ruled that Perry’s death was caused by the acute effects of ketamine combined with other contributing factors. Although Perry had publicly battled addiction for decades, including dependence on alcohol and prescription opioids, friends and associates told investigators that he had been sober for 19 months before his death.
Sangha’s plea agreement covers five charges: maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of illegal ketamine distribution, and one count of ketamine distribution resulting in death.
She faces up to 20 years in prison for operating a drug den and up to 15 years for the fatal distribution charge.
The case also involves four other defendants, including two physicians, Perry’s personal assistant, and an intermediary dealer. All have already pleaded guilty to various charges but have yet to be sentenced.
Prosecutors revealed that Sangha not only supplied the ketamine that killed Perry but also sold the drug to another individual in 2019 who later died of an overdose.
Perry’s death came less than a year after the release of his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, in which he detailed his long and painful struggle with addiction. While ketamine has legitimate medical uses in treating depression and anxiety, its misuse as a recreational drug has grown in recent years.
Sangha is expected to formally enter her guilty plea in the coming weeks.
Source: Reuters
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