According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office sentencing release, Sangha received a 180-month sentence after pleading guilty in September 2025 to maintaining a drug-involved premises, three ketamine distribution counts and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury. Federal prosecutors said Sangha’s dealing contributed to at least two deaths, including Perry’s, and that she and intermediary Erik Fleming sold 51 vials of ketamine in October 2023 that were passed to Perry through his live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa.
A Reuters report from the sentencing hearing said the judge imposed the same 15-year term prosecutors had requested, even though Sangha had faced up to 65 years in prison. Reuters also reported that the court weighed evidence that Sangha continued selling illegal drugs for six months after Perry’s death. In the background of the case, the Los Angeles County medical examiner ruled that Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine, with drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine listed as contributing factors.
How the Matthew Perry death case unfolded
The case first widened in August 2024, when five people were charged in connection with Perry’s death, including two doctors, Sangha, Fleming and Iwamasa. Authorities alleged the group formed a ketamine supply chain that moved the drug from medical sources to street-level distribution.
The prosecution took a decisive turn in September 2025, when Sangha pleaded guilty and admitted she supplied the dose that killed Perry. Her plea made her the last defendant in the case to admit guilt rather than go to trial.
By December 2025, the broader accountability picture was already taking shape. Doctor Salvador Plasencia was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for illegally supplying ketamine to Perry before the actor’s death, while proceedings for the remaining defendants continued.
What the 15-year sentence means in the Matthew Perry death case
The sentence underscores the government’s view that Sangha sat at the most serious end of the conspiracy. In its coverage of Wednesday’s hearing, The Associated Press reported that Sangha was the only defendant whose plea agreement explicitly admitted a direct role in Perry’s death.
Perry’s family used the sentencing hearing to stress what was lost. AP reported that Perry’s stepfather, Keith Morrison, told the court the actor “should have had another act. Two more acts.”
With Sangha now sentenced, the Matthew Perry death case is closer to its legal endpoint but not fully closed. Federal prosecutors have said sentencings for Iwamasa and Fleming are still ahead, meaning the court’s final accounting of the ketamine supply chain is still unfolding.
