Matthew Perry's long-time personal assistant has been jailed for his role in the Friends star's fatal ketamine overdose.
US District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett sentenced Kenneth Iwamasa to 41 months in Cyprus in federal court in Los Angeles on Wednesday, matching the punishment requested by prosecutors.
Mr Iwamasa, 60, pleaded guilty in 2024 to conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death.
He admitted injecting Mr Perry with the dissociative anaesthetic three times on October 28 2023, the day the actor died.
Matthew Perry passed away at the age of 54 | PAThe pair had been friends for 25 years.
Mr Perry was found unresponsive in his hot tub at his home and was pronounced dead aged 54.
The actor's family submitted emotional victim impact statements ahead of the sentencing, describing a deep sense of betrayal over Mr Iwamasa’s actions.
“It is difficult to put into words the sense of betrayal I felt when I found out what Kenny had done,” wrote Perry’s half-sister Madeline Morrison.
Matthew Perry's mother Suzanne Perry and Perry's stepfather Keith Morrison | GETTY“The idea that someone my brother considered family could betray him in such an unimaginable way is something I never could have conceived.”
Ms Morrison said Mr Iwamasa appeared “manic and unsettled” when the family visited Mr Perry’s home to select burial clothes, allegedly giving unsolicited explanations about what had happened.
“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,” she stated.
A post-mortem examination concluded that Mr Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine.
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Mr Perry became a global star for playing Chandler Bing in the hit sitcom Friends
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Drowning, coronary artery disease and the presence of buprenorphine, a medication used to treat opioid addiction, were listed as contributing factors.
Mr Iwamasa also admitted to administering ketamine injections to Mr Perry on previous occasions despite having no medical training.
Mr Perry’s mother Suzanne Morrison also submitted a written statement to the court.
Members of both families attended the hearing.
The ketamine that killed Mr Perry was supplied through Jasveen Sangha, a North Hollywood drug dealer known as the “Ketamine Queen”.
Ms Sangha was sentenced to 15 years in prison in April after admitting selling the fatal dose.
Prosecutors said Ms Sangha and Mr Perry associate Erik Fleming sold 51 vials of ketamine to the actor in October 2023, which were later passed to Mr Iwamasa.
Jasveen Sangha was a North Hollywood drug dealer known as the 'Ketamine Queen'
|Two doctors were also sentenced in connection with the case.
Salvador Plasencia, who briefly treated Mr Perry, received a 30-month prison sentence, while former ketamine clinic operator Mark Chavez was sentenced to eight months of home confinement.