Matthew Perry death: Update in case of ‘Ketamine Queen’ Jasveen Sangha accused of selling actor fatal dose
A woman accused of selling Friends star Matthew Perry the dose of ketamine that killed him will go to trial in September.
Jasveen Sangha’s trial is the only one forthcoming over the death of the actor, who passed away in 2023 aged 54, after four other defendants reached plea agreements with prosecutors.
It is now set to begin September 23 after a federal judge in Los Angeles made an order Tuesday.
Sangha, 42, was known to her customers as the “Ketamine Queen,” according to prosecutors.
She is charged with five counts of ketamine distribution, including one count of distribution resulting in death.
She has pleaded not guilty and has been held in federal custody since her arrest in 2024.
Her trial had been scheduled to start August 19, but the judge postponed it for the fourth time since her April 2024 indictment after lawyers on both sides agreed it should be moved.
Sangha’s lawyers said they needed the time to go through the huge amount of evidence they have received from the prosecution and to finish their own investigation.
Sangha was one of the two biggest targets in the investigation of Perry’s death, along with Dr Salvador Plasencia, who pleaded guilty to ketamine distribution in July.
Perry’s personal assistant, his friend and another doctor also entered guilty pleas and are cooperating with prosecutors. All are awaiting sentencing.
Perry, who had long battled addiction, had been getting ketamine from his regular doctor for treatment of depression.
It is an increasingly common off-label use for the surgical anesthetic.
But prosecutors say when the doctor would not give Perry as much as he wanted, he illegally sought more from Plasencia, then still more from Sangha, who they say presented herself as “a celebrity drug dealer with high quality goods.”
Perry’s assistant and friend said in their plea agreements that they acted as middlemen to buy large amounts of ketamine for Perry from Sangha, including 25 vials for $6,000 in cash a few days before his death.
Prosecutors allege that included the doses that killed Perry.
