Jasveen Sangha, 41, of California, was charged with supplying ketamine due to which Last year, Friends star Matthew Perry died. She maintained a lavish lifestyle and an active social life. Known as the “Ketamine Queen”, she described herself as a “celebrity drug dealer” with “high-quality goods”.
Prosecutors allege that Sangha, who holds both British and U.S. citizenship, was a key figure in a drug distribution network that supplied Perry and others with the powerful sedative.
The New York Post quoted prosecutors as saying that Sangha frequently travelled to various locations, including Mexico, Spain, Italy, Greece, Japan, France, Dubai and Antigua, and was seen driving around in a BMW while appearing indifferent to the fact that her ketamine had killed people.
Active and vibrant social life
Sangha maintains a large following on her Instagram and regularly posts photos and videos from her foreign trips.
According to her friend Carter, Sangha had easy access to celebrities and high-profile clients and was able to attend awards ceremonies due to her marketing and event planning work, The Sun reported.
She also owned several businesses, including a nail salon she opened in 2015 but closed two years later.
Two weeks after Perry’s death, in November 2023, Sangha captioned a post of herself drinking a lychee martini at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Tokyo, where suites cost around £1,500 a night.
According to The Sun, in February this year, Sangha was spotted enjoying herself by the swimming pool at her beachfront residence in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and also posted a selfie while drinking a cocktail.
According to prosecutors, Sangha is accused of funding his lavish lifestyle through drug trafficking, which included renting out his home in North Hollywood for “thousands of dollars a month” and driving a rented Range Rover car, which he swapped for his BMW.
Sangha is believed to have had a “carefree” attitude and enjoyed her social life before her arrest, according to her friends. According to court documents, she also claimed she was self-employed as an “artist and singer” and held “art exhibitions.”
“She has become more social in the last few months,” an old friend of Sangha told the New York Post.
Involvement in drug dealing
Sangha’s involvement in the drug trade dates back to at least 2019, when he allegedly sold ketamine to a man named Cody McLaury, who overdosed and died within hours of the transaction. After Sangha was informed of McLaury’s death by a family member, he searched online for “Can ketamine be listed as a cause of death?”
The incident highlighted Sangha’s awareness of the dangers of ketamine, which he continued to distribute despite the risks.
In Perry’s case, Sangha had allegedly provided the ketamine that eventually led to her death. On October 11 last year, Sangha messaged an acquaintance of his, Eric Fleming, about his ketamine supply and offered a sample to Perry.
Fleming sent a screenshot of a message from Sangha to Perry’s live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, stating that Sangha only works with high-end clients and celebrities.
Iwamasa then purchased 25 vials of ketamine from Sangha on October 14 and another batch on October 23. Five days later, Perry was found dead in a bathtub at his home in Los Angeles and a preliminary investigation ruled the death as an accidental drowning.
However, a December 2023 autopsy report revealed that Perry’s death was due to the “acute effects of ketamine,” which caused him to lose consciousness and slip underwater in the hot tub, among other factors. Other factors in his death included drowning, coronary artery disease, and the effects of the opioid-addiction drug buprenorphine, which was also found in his system.
According to prosecutors, Iwamasa is accused of giving Perry 27 injections of ketamine over the last five days of her life, three of which caused her to later die.
Perry had publicly acknowledged decades of drug and alcohol abuse, including during his years playing Chandler Bing on the hit 1990s television sitcom “Friends.” He had been sober for 19 months before his death and had never relapsed, according to interviews cited in his autopsy.
allegations against Sangha and others
Sangha was arrested on August 15 this year in connection with Perry’s ketamine overdose. He was charged with nine counts including conspiracy to distribute ketamine, maintaining a drug-involved premises, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and ketamine, and five counts of distributing ketamine. If convicted, he could face life imprisonment.
During a court appearance on Friday, the 41-year-old woman pleaded not guilty to all charges. Despite this, the judge ordered her to be held without bail, citing her risk of fleeing. Her lawyer criticized the “Ketamine Queen” nickname used by prosecutors, suggesting it was coined to gain media attention.
The investigation into Perry’s death also led to the arrest of Dr. Salvador Plasencia, a Santa Monica physician accused of being the main supplier of ketamine. Plasencia, known as “Dr. P,” allegedly used encrypted messaging apps and coded language to facilitate drug deals. He pleaded not guilty to all charges and was released on a $100,000 bond, the New York Post reports.
Apart from Sangha and Dr. Plasencia, Dr. Mark Chavez, Iwamasa, Perry’s personal assistant and associate Eric Fleming have been charged in connection with the actor’s death.
According to federal documents, Sangha was “obsessed” with her looks, her friends said, and claimed she was regularly receiving Botox treatments and IV drips to boost her “natural health.”
“Although she also sold other drugs such as methamphetamine and magic mushrooms, the defendant’s specialty was ketamine, which she sold regularly and presented herself as a celebrity drug dealer with high-end merchandise,” the documents state.