“Ketamine Queen” Sentenced to 15 Years in Matthew Perry Death as Federal Case Exposes Hollywood Drug Pipeline
A federal judge in Los Angeles has sentenced Jasveen Sangha, the North Hollywood dealer known as the “Ketamine Queen” to 15 years in prison for running a high volume narcotics operation that supplied the drugs responsible for the death of Matthew Perry. The ruling closes a sprawling federal case that pulled back the curtain on a loosely connected but highly functional network of doctors, intermediaries, and dealers feeding controlled substances into Los Angeles’ high end social circles often with fatal consequences.
A Business Model Built on Addiction
Prosecutors did not present Sangha as a peripheral figure. They described a centralized operator who built a steady, years long distribution pipeline out of her North Hollywood home, supplying ketamine, methamphetamine, MDMA, cocaine, and counterfeit pharmaceuticals to a curated client base. Federal filings emphasized that Sangha marketed exclusivity, positioning herself as a reliable source for high profile users, while fully aware of the risks tied to the substances she sold.
“For years… Sangha operated a high-volume drug trafficking business… she knew and disregarded the grave harm her conduct was causing.”
That harm was not hypothetical. It was documented.
The Final Chain That Led to Perry’s Death
By October 2023, Perry was legally receiving ketamine as part of supervised treatment for depression. But according to court records, he began seeking higher quantities outside medical oversight, entering a shadow supply chain that ultimately led to Sangha. Working with co-defendant Erik Fleming, Sangha supplied dozens of vials of ketamine that were passed to Perry’s live in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa. In the days leading up to the actor’s death, Iwamasa administered repeated injections.
On October 28, 2023, Perry was injected multiple times. He died shortly after. The medical examiner identified ketamine as the primary cause, with drowning listed as a secondary factor. The sequence was not complicated, it was direct. Supply. Delivery. Administration. Death.
Evidence of Conscious Guilt
What distinguishes this case and elevated Sangha’s exposure at sentencing was what happened after Perry died. According to federal evidence, Sangha immediately contacted Fleming on an encrypted messaging platform and took steps to eliminate communications tied to the transaction. She altered message settings to auto delete and instructed him explicitly:
“Delete all our messages.”
The attempt to distance herself was short lived. Investigators had already begun reconstructing the network through digital records, financial activity, and cooperating witnesses.
Not the First Death and Not the Last Warning
The court also weighed a prior fatal overdose tied to Sangha’s supply. In 2019, she sold ketamine to another individual who died within hours. Testimony established that Sangha was notified of the death directly and continued dealing. That detail proved critical. It demonstrated not recklessness, but pattern. And for the court, it reinforced that Perry’s death was not an isolated outcome, it was a foreseeable one.
A Network of Enablers
The broader case exposed multiple entry points into the same system. A licensed physician admitted to illegally supplying ketamine despite clear knowledge of Perry’s addiction history. Another provider distributed the drug through a clinic pipeline. Middlemen facilitated access and administration. Each has been charged and sentenced separately, with penalties ranging from probation to multi-year prison terms. Defense attorneys argued that those administering or prescribing the drug bore equal responsibility. The court rejected that framing.
Why Sangha Received the Heaviest Sentence
U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett anchored the sentence in scale, duration, and awareness. Sangha’s operation spanned years. It involved multiple substances, multiple clients, and at least two fatal outcomes. She continued trafficking after prior warnings and attempted to conceal evidence following Perry’s death. Federal guidelines placed her sentencing range between 14 and 17.5 years. The court imposed 15.
“There’s no joy in this process… maybe at the end of the day you will feel a sense of justice.”
The remark, directed at Perry’s family, reflected the limits of sentencing in cases where the damage cannot be reversed.
The Larger Failure
This case is not just about one dealer. It is about a system where controlled substances move too easily from regulated environments into illicit markets, particularly when demand is backed by money, access, and influence. Ketamine exists in legitimate medical use. But outside that structure, it becomes something else entirely: unmeasured, unmonitored, and often lethal. What the Perry case exposed is how thin that boundary can be and how quickly it collapses when oversight fails.
The death of Matthew Perry was not an unpredictable tragedy. It was the endpoint of a functioning pipeline, one that blended medical legitimacy, criminal distribution, and personal vulnerability into a fatal outcome. Jasveen Sangha’s 15 year sentence holds one piece of that system accountable. But the structure that enabled it remains. And unless that changes, this case will not be the last.
