Trial date set for Californian doctor and “ketamine queen” in connection with Matthew Perry case

By Alli Rosenbloom | CNN

A trial date has been set for two of five people charged in connection with the death of popular “Friends” actor Matthew Perry.

Dr. Salvador Plasencia and the alleged drug trafficker Jasveen Sangha, whom the prosecution also calls the “ketamine queen,” will be tried together.

The trial is scheduled to begin on March 4, 2025. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for February 19.

Plasencia and Sangha were arrested on August 15 and charged with falsifying medical records and conspiracy to distribute drugs, among other things, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Both Sangha and Plasencia, who prosecutors say contributed to Perry's death by administering ketamine to the actor in his final weeks of life, pleaded not guilty.

The three other people charged in Perry's death – Dr. Mark Chavez, Perry's personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa and an acquaintance of Perry's, Erik Fleming – are cooperating with prosecutors and have pleaded guilty. Sentencing for Fleming and Iwamasa is scheduled for October and November, respectively.

According to the Justice Department, Sangha remains in federal custody and Plasencia is free on bail.

Perry died in October 2023 at age 54 from the “acute effects” of ketamine and subsequent drowning, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office autopsy report. His body was found floating facedown in a hot tub at his Pacific Palisades home.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Plasencia was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, seven counts of distribution of ketamine and two counts of altering or falsifying documents or records in connection with the federal investigation.

In the weeks before his death, Plasencia is said to have sold vials of ketamine that he had received from Chavez to Perry and Iwamasa “outside of normal professional practice and without any legitimate medical purpose.”

He is also accused of showing Iwamasa how to inject Perry with the drug and of injecting him himself on one occasion, despite being aware that the actor's ketamine addiction was “getting out of control.”

If convicted, Plasencia faces up to ten years for each ketamine-related charge and up to twenty years for each drug counterfeiting charge.

In addition to its legitimate medical use, ketamine is becoming increasingly popular as a party drug.

“In Hollywood, there are after-parties and people like to feel transformed … it's become popular in those circles,” says Dr. David Mahjoubi, who runs one of the hundreds of ketamine clinics that have mushroomed in recent years.

Clinics like Mahjoubi's use forms of the drug in controlled doses and controlled environments as a therapy for mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety and PTSD. Doctors are given the option to use drugs for so-called “off-label” uses “as long as it is within acceptable guidelines” and “does not cause harm,” Mahjoubi said.

“If someone wants to get high on ketamine, they will buy it on the street,” Mahjoubi added. “It's much cheaper than going to the doctor and getting an infusion.”

When the ketamine clinic that treated Perry refused to increase his dosage, prosecutors said he went first to Plasencia and then, for cost reasons, to Sangha.

Sangha, whom authorities call the “ketamine queen” of North Hollywood, ran a drug-trafficking operation out of her home and sold vials of ketamine to Fleming in Perry's name, according to Fleming's plea agreement.