Doctor who supplied Matthew Perry with ketamine to plead guilty, faces 40 years in prison
Dr. Salvador Plasencia, a physician charged alongside four others in the death of actor Matthew Perry, has agreed to plead guilty to his role in the substance abuse that contributed to the "Friends" star's tragic death in 2023.
Plasencia, also known as "Dr. P," signed a plea agreement on June 13 drafted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, according to a court document filed June 16 and obtained by Paste BN. The charges are four counts of distribution of ketamine.
Plasencia will formally plead guilty in federal court July 23, his attorneys Debra S. White and Karen L. Goldstein told Paste BN June 20.
As part of the plea deal, Plasencia acknowledges that he "knowingly distributed ketamine" to Perry before his 2023 death, behaved in a manner "outside the scope of professional practice," and that the drug distribution lacked "a legitimate medical purpose."
In addition to prison time, other conditions of Plasencia's sentence could also include a three-year period of supervised release, a fine of $2,000,000 (or alternatively, "twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from the offenses") and a mandatory special assessment of $400.
In August 2024, Plasencia was charged alongside Jasveen Sangha, whom the Department of Justice previously referred to as "The Ketamine Queen" of North Hollywood, and the pair faced 18 criminal counts for allegedly "distributing ketamine to Perry during the final weeks of the actor’s life."
Matthew Perry's assistant, 'acquaintance' among those who pleaded guilty to charges related to his death
Other co-conspirators named in the case were Perry's live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, Dr. Mark Chavez and Erik Fleming.
Iwamasa pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. Fleming, described as Perry's acquaintance, admitted he distributed the ketamine that killed Perry. In August 2024, he pleaded guilty to two charges: conspiracy to distribute ketamine and distribution of ketamine resulting in death.
Chavez in October 2024 pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
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Perry, best known for his role as the wisecracking Chandler Bing on "Friends," died in October 2023 at the age of 54 after the actor was found dead in a jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home. The drug-related nature of Perry's death prompted a sweeping investigation in May 2024 by several U.S. agencies, including the Los Angeles Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
An autopsy report released in December 2023 revealed that Perry's death was an accident, with the cause being "the acute effects of ketamine." Contributing factors were drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine.
Investigators detail Salvador Plasencia's involvement in Matthew Perry's death
Following the announcement of Plasencia's charges in August 2024, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram said in a statement that the physician, who previously owned the clinic Malibu Canyon Urgent Care, and his co-defendants "played a key role in (Perry's) death by falsely prescribing, selling, or injecting the ketamine."
"Matthew Perry’s journey began with unscrupulous doctors who abused their position of trust because they saw him as a payday, to street dealers who gave him ketamine in unmarked vials," Milgram said.
According to a DOJ news release issued at the time, Plasencia learned that Perry was interested in obtaining ketamine in September 2023. The Emmy-nominated actor paid Plasencia thousands of dollars for various refills of the drug, with one payment totaling around $12,000, according to the June 16 plea deal.
The California doctor enlisted Chavez, who used to operate a ketamine clinic, to obtain the anesthetic drug to sell it to Perry. According to investigators, Plasencia sent text messages to Chavez that included, "I wonder how much this moron will pay" and "Let's find out."
Per investigators, on Oct. 28, 2023 — the day Perry died — his live-in assistant, Iwamasa, injected Perry with ketamine, as he did several times before, without proper medical licensure to complete the injections. The ketamine used in Perry's death was sold by Fleming and Sangha, officials allege, and administered with instructions and syringes provided by Plasencia.
Plasencia allegedly sold the drug to Iwamasa, although he was informed at least one week before Perry's death that his ketamine addiction was "spiraling out of control." Later, Sangha allegedly texted Fleming to "delete all our messages" after news of Perry's death came out.
If you or someone you know needs help battling a substance abuse addiction, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
(This story was updated to add new information.)
Contributing: KiMi Robinson, Taijuan Moorman and Jay Stahl, Paste BN