Matthew Perry, star of hit comedy sitcom Friends, died from a ketamine overdose on October 28th 2023, set a series of documentaries and TV shows investigating his untimely death.
The new Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy documentary explores the finals days of the star and criminal investigation by the former U.S. attorney, E. Martin Estrada, whose office opened the case speaks about the five people who have been charged in connection with Perry’s death.
“One of the overall themes of our indictment is that all these defendants should have known better,” said the attorney. “They were taking advantage of an individual, and letting their greed drive them to endanger Mr. Perry’s life.”
The 17 Again actor was found unresponsive in a hot tube at his house and was pronounced dead at the scene. The authorities at that time said that there was “indication of foul play” till an autopsy report determined his cause of death which was, acute effects of ketamine.
The claim led to five individuals being charged last year in August.
Kenneth Iwamasa (personal assistant), Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez, two doctors accused of distributing ketamine to Perry, Erik Fleming who allegedly took role of a go-between and Jasveen Sangha, an alleged local drug dealer known as “Ketamine Queen” in North Hollywood.
The charges brought against Plasencia and Sangha are numerous and severe.
Sangha’s charges include one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and five counts of distribution. The special includes a clip of her lawyer, Mark Geragos, claiming that his client “never met Matthew Perry and has nothing to do with Matthew Perry.”
Plasencia has been charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and seven counts of distribution, and his lawyer has also denied their validity of the charges.
According to the allegations, Chavez obtained the ketamine distributed to Perry by writing a fraudulent prescription in a different patient’s name without his consent. The indictment also says Plasencia wrote in text messages to Chavez, “I wonder how much this moron will pay” and “[Let’s] find out.
Sangha and Plasencia will stand trial beginning from March 4th. The documentary Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy is slated for premiere on February 25th on Peacock.
