Matthew Perry's Assistant Gets 41 Months for Ketamine Death

The final piece of the Matthew Perry case fell into place this week when Kenneth Iwamasa, the actor’s former personal assistant, was sentenced to 41 months in prison for his role in supplying the ketamine that led to Perry’s death in October 2023.

What makes Iwamasa’s case particularly troubling isn’t just that he helped provide the drug—it’s how hands-on his involvement became. Court documents reveal he repeatedly injected Perry with ketamine over the weeks leading up to the actor’s death, administering more than 20 shots in just the final four days of Perry’s life. This wasn’t some distant enabler. Iwamasa became Perry’s de facto drug supplier and injector, operating without any medical training whatsoever, all while allegedly knowing Perry was spiraling out of control.

The path to this sentence began back in 2024 when Iwamasa cut a plea deal with federal prosecutors, pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death. The 41-month sentence he received matched what prosecutors had requested—essentially a three-and-a-half-year term that reflected both the severity of his actions and his eventual cooperation with the investigation. But before that cooperation came attempts at cover-up: Iwamasa allegedly deleted evidence, shredded documents, and lied to investigators before ultimately deciding to work with the feds.

This sentencing marks the end of a sweeping ketamine investigation that touched multiple people in Perry’s orbit. Doctor Salvador Plasencia received 30 months, middleman Erik Fleming got 2 years, and Jasveen Sangha—the so-called Ketamine Queen—drew the harshest sentence at 15 years. Each conviction tells part of a larger story about how a beloved actor’s addiction was enabled by people around him, some motivated by money, others by misplaced loyalty or their own dependencies.

The tragedy isn’t just that Matthew Perry died. It’s that his death came at the hands of people who were supposed to be helping him, their negligence and greed documented in court filings that paint a picture of institutional failure around a vulnerable person.