It’s coming up to two years since Friends icon Matthew Perry was discovered dead at his Los Angeles home. On that day, Oct. 28, 2023, the entertainment world reacted with shock and sadness, especially as Friends remains almost as popular on streaming services as it was on its network television debut in the 1990s.
Details soon emerged of the tragic details of Perry’s death. He’d long battled addiction issues, with the medical examiner ruling that ketamine was his primary cause of death. Perry had actually been given the drug by his doctor as a treatment for depression, though he soon sought more than his doctor would give him.
Perry then sought out the drug through illegal means and, after a lengthy police investigation, five people were arrested: Dr Mark Chavez, Dr Salvador Plasencia, Kenneth Iwamasa, Erik Fleming, and Jasveen Sangha. Of those, Dr Plasencia took a plea deal, with Chavez, Iwamasa, and Fleming all agreeing to plead guilty in exchange for their cooperation.
The only holdout was Sangha, who continued to plead not guilty despite prosecutors claiming she sold him 25 vials of ketamine for $6,000 in cash just four days before his death, with these being the drugs that killed him.
Cops were quick to paint Sangha as the prolific dealer, the “ketamine queen”, charging her with one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute ketamine, and five counts of distribution of ketamine.
The last chapter
Jasveen Sangha, the so-called "Ketamine Queen," has agreed to plead guilty to five federal charges, including selling "Friends" actor Matthew Perry the dose of ketamine that led to his death in October 2023, according to the Justice Department. https://t.co/OC37DvZ0ji
— ABC News (@ABC) August 19, 2025
Sangha was due to go to trial imminently, but prosecutors have now confirmed that she’s officially changing her plea to guilty and may be facing a colossal 45-year sentence. Fear of spending the rest of her life behind bars may have encouraged her to change her plea to reduce that sentence, but there’s no comment from her or her lawyers confirming that.
As such, save for her sentencing, cops can finally close the book on Matthew Perry’s death. None of this will bring him back, but in the wake of his death, the Matthew Perry Foundation was established “to help as many people as possible on their journey to recovery”. Here’s hoping his story can help others improve their lives and beat their demons.
Published: Aug 19, 2025 08:23 am