Matthew Perry’s personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, has received a three-year-and-five-month prison sentence for hIs involvement with the star’s death.
Matthew Perry’s personal assistant, who bought ketamine for the actor and injected the fatal dose, was jailed for three years and five months on Wednesday (27.05.26).
Kenneth Iwamasa, 61, who, in the last three days of the Friends star’s life, injected the drug six to eight times per day without medical training, including the day when he found Perry dead in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023 aged 54, pleaded guilty to distributing ketamine that resulted in death or serious bodily injury.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence to Iwamasa, which also included two years of probation and a $10,000 fine.
She said before handing down the sentence: “You were privy to his struggle with addiction. Your conduct was reckless, not just on the day of his death but in the days leading up to his death.”
The sentence matched what prosecutors wanted, but Judge Garnett noted there was “no hard evidence” that Iwamasa “acted with malicious intent, though some would disagree”.
Iwamasa apologised for his “illegal acts” to the Perry family in court.
He said: “I am so sorry to all of you. I’m just so sorry to have done illegal acts I will forever regret.
“I will take that to my grave.”
Iwamasa’s lawyer, Alan Eisner, argued for a six-month prison term with six months of home confinement because his client was carrying out the instructions of a much more powerful boss, not acting on his own.
Eisner told the judge: “His loyalty to Mr Perry was paramount. He worshipped Mr Perry; he looked up to Mr Perry. All he did was please and accommodate Mr Perry.”
The judge jumped in and said: “Unwilling. Not unable. He could have said no.”
In a victim impact statement obtained by People, Perry’s mom, Suzanne Morrison, said her son “paid the price” for trusting Iwamasa, who shot the entertainer with a large dose on October 23, 2023.
In the statement, Morrison insisted Iwamasa – whom Perry hired in 2022 – was supposed to be her son’s “companion and guardian in his fight against addiction” and to help him remain “drug free.”
She went on to claim Iwamasa of betraying the family’s trust.
Morrison added: “Instead of protecting Matthew, he aided and abetted illegal drug taking, arranged for one source of supply, then another. Shot the drugs into Matthew’s body, though he was not in the least qualified.
“He did it even though he could see, anyone could have seen, it was so obviously dangerous. And he did it again and again.”
Morrison also suggested Iwamasa tried to get close to her after her son’s death and “kept a sharp eye on” her.
She wrote: “He sent me songs, he drew a little map to help me find my way around the cemetery. If he saw a rainbow – one of Matthew’s favourite things – he would call me … [He clung to me] as if he was somehow the good guy who tried to save Matthew …
“We trusted a man without a conscience, and my son paid the price.”
Morrison went on to declare her late son was her “heart and my soul” and she thanked investigators for their hard work securing justice for the actor, but she accepted that closure “doesn’t exist”.
She concluded: “Nothing takes this pain away, nor will it, I am sure, for as long as [I] live.”
In August 2024, Iwamasa pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death as part of a deal with prosecutors.
Iwamasa’s plea agreement said he bought ketamine from 49-year-old former doctor Salvador Plascencia – who was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison in July – and the latter taught Iwamasa how to inject the drug.
Iwamasa also bought ketamine from Perry’s acquaintance Erik Fleming, 56, who sourced the drug from 42-year-old Jasveen Sangha.
Fleming was sentenced to two years in prison a fortnight ago.
Dealer Sangha, the so-called Ketamine Queen, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on April 8.
Another doctor, Mark Chavez, 55, also sold ketamine to Perry, but he was sentenced to eight months of home detention and three years of supervised release in December 2025.
Iwamasa was the fifth and final person to be sentenced.
Ketamine was the primary cause of Perry’s death, with drowning being the secondary cause.
Matthew Perry’s personal assistant sentenced to three years and five months in prison
