Christal Hayes
BBC News, Los Angeles
A woman dubbed the “Ketamine Queen” has agreed to plead guilty to selling the drugs that ultimately killed Friends actor Matthew Perry.
Jasveen Sangha, 42, will plead guilty to five charges in Los Angeles, including one count of distributing ketamine resulting in death or bodily injury, according to the Justice Department.
The American-British dual-national originally faced nine criminal counts. Federal prosecutors called her Los Angeles home a “drug-selling emporium” and found dozens of vials of ketamine during a raid.
Perry was found dead in a back yard jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home in October 2023, with an examination finding his death was caused by the acute effects of ketamine.
Sangha is one of five people – including medical doctors and the actor’s assistant – who US officials say supplied ketamine to Perry, exploiting his drug addiction for profit, and leading to his overdose death.
They include: Dr Salvador Plasencia and Dr Mark Chavez, two doctors who sold ketamine; Kenneth Iwamasa, who worked as Perry’s live-in assistant and both helped purchase and inject the actor with ketamine; and Eric Fleming, who sold ketamine he’d got from Sangha to Perry.
All five have since agreed to plead guilty to charges in the case. Sangha’s criminal trial had been pushed several times and currently was scheduled to begin next month.
She is expected to appear in federal court in the coming weeks to formally enter her guilty plea as part of the agreement with federal authorities.
Her attorney, Mark Geragos, told the BBC in a statement that “she’s taking responsibility for her actions”.
She plans to plead guilty to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distributing ketamine, and one count of distributing ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury.
Sangha faces a maximum sentence of 65 years in federal prison, according to the Justice Department.
Ketamine is a dissociative anaesthetic that has some hallucinogenic effects, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). It can distort perception of sight and sound and makes the user feel disconnected and not in control.
It is used as an injectable anaesthetic for humans and animals because it makes patients feel detached from their pain and environment.
The substance is supposed to be administered only by a physician, investigators say, and patients who have taken the drug should be monitored by a professional because of its possible harmful effects.
Perry’s death and the investigation into how he obtained so much of the drug over multiple years offered a glimpse into Hollywood’s ketamine drug network, which one doctor called the “wild west” in an interview with the BBC.
As part of her plea agreement, Sangha also plead guilty to selling ketamine to a man named Cody McLaury in August 2019, who died hours after the purchase from a drug overdose, according to the justice department.
Federal authorities accused Sangha of supplying ketamine from her “stash house” in North Hollywood since at least 2019, alleging in an indictment that she worked with celebrities and high-end clients.
More than 80 vials of ketamine were allegedly found there in a search before her arrest in March 2024, along with thousands of pills that included methamphetamine, cocaine and Xanax.
The home, called the “Sangha Stash House” in a federal indictment, was where she is alleged to have packaged and distributed drugs.
Sangha is said to have mixed with celebrities socially, with one of her friends telling the Daily Mail she attended the Golden Globes and the Oscars.
Her social media presence depicted an extravagant lifestyle, including parties and trips to Japan and Mexico.
