Matthew Perry's assistant charged in ketamine death probe

At the end of October last year, the media was shocked by the news of Matthew Perry's death. The "Friends" star was found dead in his home jacuzzi. His sudden passing made headlines across the media. Millions of loyal fans, his grieving family, and colleagues from the hit series mourned the actor.

It was determined that Matthew Perry died as a result of complications from taking ketamine. As reported some time ago, the substance caused excessive cardiovascular stimulation and respiratory problems. An autopsy report revealed that there was no evidence of alcohol, methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, PCP, or fentanyl in his system.

Recently, there was a breakthrough in the 54-year-old's death investigation. Dealers and doctors were arrested. It turns out that Matthew Perry's long-time assistant was also involved. He was the one who injected the actor with ketamine. Last Thursday, a prosecutor announced that Kenneth Iwamasa admitted to administering the drug to the late star (on the day of his death), which caused his death.

The assistant was the one who found Matthew's body in the jacuzzi at his newly renovated home. The men spent most of their time together. The owner of the property previously rented by the actor, John Malakzad, identified Iwamasa as "an individual living with Perry and monitoring him." Kenny was photographed driving Perry around Los Angeles for business and leaving his Beverly Hills home in the morning. A member of Iwamasa's family confirmed to the "Daily Mail" that he lived with the star during the last few months before his death.

The LinkedIn profile of the former right-hand man of the sitcom Chandler states that he worked as an "executive assistant" employed by Perry's manager, Doug Chapin.

Executive Assistant to personal manager responsibilities for 25 years (on-going) for client Matthew Perry ('Friends'; actor-writer-producer). I thrive in chaotic situations which call for order. I am discreet, loyal and honor absolute confidentiality. I love deadlines, contracts, dotting i's and solving puzzling situations and projects, we read.

Four days before Matthew's death, Iwamasa received 25 millilitres of ketamine. He got them from Eric Fleming, who had obtained the drug from Jasveen Sanghi "the ketamine queen" of North Hollywood. The woman was charged with several crimes, including maintaining a location for storing drugs, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute ketamine, seven counts of ketamine distribution, and two instances of altering and falsifying documents or records related to a federal investigation. Fleming, in turn, admitted to, among other things, one count of ketamine distribution resulting in death. He confessed that he got the ketamine from Sanghi and handed it over to Iwamasa.

According to the "Daily Mail," prosecutors confirmed that a certain Dr. Mark Chavez also admitted to one of the charges of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. He sold the drug to Dr. Salvador Plasencia, making the delivery through "making false representations to a wholesale ketamine distributor and by submitting a fraudulent prescription in the name of a former patient without that patient’s knowledge or consent."

In one of the messages, the accused Plasencia was wondering "how much [Perry] will pay" for the substance. Ultimately, the drug worth $12 (CAD 16) per millilitre was being bought for over $2,000 (CAD 2750). During a conference, it was revealed that the "Friends" star spent $55,000 (CAD 75,000) on more than 20 millilitres of drugs. According to TMZ, the dealers used a code, referring to the substance as "Dr. Pepper" when communicating with each other.