Matthew Perry drug dealer jailed after selling fatal ketamine dose to Friends star

Addiction counsellor Erik Fleming, who administered the fatal doses of ketamine that claimed the life of Matthew Perry, has been sentenced to prison. Perry, who was 54 at the time of his death, was loved by millions for his portrayal of Chandler Bing in the NBC sitcom Friends.

Fleming was handed a two-year custodial sentence by Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett at a federal court in Los Angeles on Wednesday (May 13). Addressing the court, Fleming told the judge: "It's truly a nightmare I can't wake up from." He further confessed that he was "haunted" by the errors he had made, speaking from the podium dressed in a black suit. The judge ordered Fleming, who had been free on bond for approximately two years, to surrender himself within 45 days to begin his sentence.

He was additionally handed three years of probation. He became the fourth of five defendants to be sentenced following guilty pleas in connection with the actor's 2023 death in the Jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home.

Fleming introduced Perry to Jasveen Sangha, the convicted drug dealer prosecutors dubbed 'The Ketamine Queen.' She received a 15-year prison sentence last month. Fleming gave up Sangha to investigators on the very day they tracked him down at his sister's house, where he had been sleeping on the sofa several months after Perry's death.

He became the first defendant to enter a guilty plea in August 2024, admitting to a single count of distributing ketamine resulting in death. This occurred before arrests in the case were publicly announced, and Wednesday marked his first court appearance since his involvement became known. Robert Dugdale, Fleming's attorney, told the court that he "handed over the Ketamine Queen on a silver platter". He added: "They didn't have a clue who she was before that day," reports the Mirror.

Had it not been for his earlier co-operation, Fleming would likely have faced approximately four years in prison, according to federal sentencing guidelines. Prosecutors acknowledged he deserved recognition for doing the right thing, yet maintained that he only acted once confronted and backed into a corner by authorities.

"Mr Fleming didn't cooperate because he had a benevolent motive, or because he wanted justice for Mr Perry," Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian Yanniello said. "He wanted to save himself."

The judge further noted that Fleming failed to come forward in the months following Perry's death, that he generated no fresh evidence by placing calls to co-conspirators or anything of that nature, and that the information he provided could potentially have been obtained regardless, simply through the seizure of his phone.

Nevertheless, all parties concurred that his co-operation accelerated and streamlined the investigation. Prosecutors stated in a sentencing memo that his role as a drug counsellor who "deliberately undertook to sell illegal street drugs to a victim who had a public, well-documented battle with drug addiction" ought to be held against him, even though Perry was not amongst his regular clients.

Defence lawyers stressed that he had no prior criminal record and repeatedly noted that he spent just 11 days of his life supplying drugs to a single customer. They had sought a sentence of three months in prison and nine months in a residential drug treatment facility.

Fleming stated that his profound remorse "can't compare to the agony I've caused," to Perry's family and friends. He and his legal team also highlighted what they described as his remarkable commitment to rehabilitation, having remained sober for 20 months and helping to found a sober living home. Following the hearing, he embraced several friends in the courtroom who had been there to support him.

Perry had been receiving ketamine treatment for depression — an increasingly widespread off-label practice. Several weeks before his death, Perry was seeking more of the drug than he could obtain through medical channels and asked a friend to help him source further supplies. She was in a treatment facility at the time, so she introduced Perry to Fleming.

He was a former film and television producer whose career had been devastated by addiction. He achieved sobriety and retrained as a drug counsellor, but had relapsed following the 2023 death of a beloved stepmother who had rescued him from a traumatic childhood, according to his lawyers.

Fleming would obtain ketamine from Sangha, inflate the price to turn a profit, and deliver it to Perry's home, where he sold it to the actor's live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa. His deliveries included 25 vials for $6,000 just four days before Perry's death. Iwamasa administered an injection to Perry from that batch on 28 October 2023, and hours afterwards, he discovered the actor deceased.

A medical examiner's report determined that Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine, a surgical anaesthetic, with drowning listed as a secondary cause. Iwamasa is scheduled to be the final defendant sentenced in a fortnight.