OAN Staff Lillian Mann
9:48 AM – Thursday, May 28, 2026
Kenneth Iwamasa, Mathew Perry’s live-in assistant, has been sentenced to more than three years in prison after “repeatedly” injecting the “Friends” actor with ketamine on the day of his death.
In addition to the three-year sentence, U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also imposed a $10,000 fine on Iwamasa on Wednesday.
Perry passed away at 54 years old in October 2023, after drowning in a jacuzzi at his home in Los Angeles following a ketamine overdose. The actor’s final request to Iwamasa was “shoot me up with a big one” before the injection was administered, according to Iwamasa’s plea deal.
Prosecutors said that in the days leading up to Perry’s death, Iwamasa administered more than 25 injections of the drug to the actor, including at least three on the day he died.
Facing Perry’s loved ones in a Los Angeles courtroom, Iwamasa, 61, took the stand saying he was “horribly, horribly sorry” for his role in Perry’s death.
Madeline Morrison, the actor’s half-sister, shared how “manic” Iwamasa seemed in the events following Perry’s death.
“A few days after Matthew died, my sister and I went to choose clothes for him to be buried in – one of the most surreal and heartbreaking experiences of my life,” Morrison said. “I remember how manic and unsettled Kenny seemed.”
“He repeatedly volunteered his version of events without being asked, as if he were being interviewed rather than mourning a friend,” she added. “In reality he was trying to distract us from the truth, that he had injected my brother with a lethal dose of ketamine and left him in a hot tub to die.”
Iwamasa is the fifth and final defendant to be sentenced in connection with the death of Matthew Perry, joining dealer Jasveen Sangha, known as the “Ketamine Queen,” Dr. Salvador Plasencia, Dr. Mark Chavez and drug addiction counselor Erik Fleming.
The assistant’s sentencing comes two weeks after Fleming, who Prosecutors said delivered 50 vials of ketamine to Perry for profit, was ordered to serve two years in prison. An emotional Fleming told the court, “It’s truly a nightmare I can’t wake up from. I’m haunted by the mistakes I made.”
A judge, noting Fleming has been free on bond for roughly two years, ordered him to surrender within 45 days to begin his sentence. He was also placed on three years of supervised release.
Matthew Perry battled addiction for many years, a struggle that intensified during his time on the hit sitcom “Friends” where he rose to global fame as Chandler Bing alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer.
While the show ran from 1994 to 2004 and became a cultural landmark, Perry’s rapid rise to global stardom was increasingly overshadowed by his personal struggles with addiction.
Authorities alleged that Iwamasa injected Perry six to eight times a day between October 24th and October 27, 2023. He later pleaded guilty on August 7, 2025, to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death.
Iwamasa allegedly obtained ketamine from multiple sources for Perry, spending more than $55,000 on the drug over a nearly month-long period leading up to Perry’s tragic death.
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