Erik Fleming Sentenced To Two Years For Distributing Ketamine That Killed Matthew Perry

Erik Fleming, a licensed drug addiction counselor, was sentenced to two years in prison for his role in the ketamine overdose death of “Friends” star Matthew Perry, with U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handing down the punishment during a hearing May 13.

“U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett sentenced Fleming, who later became a licensed drug addiction counselor, to two years in prison”

USA Today

Prosecutors said Fleming pleaded guilty in August 2024 to conspiracy to distribute ketamine and distribution of ketamine resulting in death, and they described his conduct as “profit-seeking behavior and reckless distribution of dubiously manufactured drugs.”

ABC News

Fleming told the judge, “It’s truly a nightmare I can’t wake up from,” and he said, “I’m haunted by the mistakes I made.”

The case centers on Perry’s death in October 2023, when he was found dead in a jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home, and the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office attributed his death to “the acute effects of ketamine.”

In court, Fleming said he was regretfully sorry for the pain and anguish he caused the family, telling reporters, “It’s what hurts me the most,” after his sentencing.

Federal prosecutors argued that Fleming brokered multiple transactions between Jasveen Sangha and Perry’s live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, “despite knowing the risk and dangers of selling the drugs.”

ABC7 Los Angeles

Defense attorneys Robert Dugdale and Jeffrey Chemerinsky asked for a sentence of three months in prison and nine months in a residential drug treatment facility, saying Fleming “relapsed into heavy drug use” after the death of his stepmother in September 2023.

The sentencing record also described prosecutors’ view that Fleming knew about Perry’s history of addiction and still chose to sell him drugs contained in “clear, unmarked vials of unknown concentrations.”

The sentencing of Fleming came as the broader conspiracy case moved through its remaining defendants, with Jasveen Sangha—also known as “the Ketamine Queen” of North Hollywood—already sentenced to 15 years in prison for her involvement in Perry’s overdose death.

“drug dealer Jasveen Sangha, also known as "the Ketamine Queen" of North Hollywood, was sentenced to 15 years in prison”

USA Today

Prosecutors said Sangha worked with Fleming to sell 51 vials of ketamine to Perry in October 2023, and court documents described Iwamasa injecting Perry with at least three shots of ketamine on October 28, 2023.

NBC News reported that Fleming delivered the ketamine to Iwamasa in Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades and that the judge decided on a 24-month sentence, with Fleming turning himself in by noon June 29.

Looking ahead, CBS News said Iwamasa “will be the final charged individual to be sentenced,” and it reported that he was set to be sentenced on May 27 after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death.