Kenneth Iwamasa, the assistant to late actor Matthew Perry, has admitted to his role in the Friends star’s fatal ketamine overdose and has shared details of their final conversation.
Iwamasa, 59, who was not medically trained, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death.
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According to a plea agreement, obtained by People, Perry’s final words to Iwamasa were, “Shoot me up with a big one.”
Iwamasa allegedly administered multiple injections of ketamine to Perry, with the final dose being the third that day.
Perry, 54, was discovered face down in his jacuzzi on October 28, 2023. An autopsy later confirmed that ketamine was the cause of death.
Federal authorities have charged Iwamasa along with four others in connection with Perry’s death.
These charges accuse them of exploiting Perry’s addiction for financial gain.
The Department of Justice’s US Attorney Martin Estrada stated: “In the end, these defendants were more interested in profiting off Mr Perry than caring for his well-being.”
The other individuals charged include Jasveen Sangha, known as the “Ketamine Queen,” Dr. Salvador Plasencia, Erik Fleming, and Dr Mark Chavez, as per the US Attorney’s Office.
Fleming has already pleaded guilty to conspiracy and distribution charges, while Dr. Chavez is expected to do the same.
Sangha and Plasencia have yet to enter pleas, and it is unclear if they have legal representation at this time.
The five charges were announced at a press conference in Los Angeles on August 15.
The doctors preyed on Perry’s history of addiction in the final months of his life last year to provide him with ketamine in amounts they knew were dangerous, US Attorney Martin Estrada said as he announced the charges.
“They knew what they were doing was wrong,” Estrada said.
“They knew what they were doing was risking great danger to Mr Perry. But they did it anyway.”
One doctor even wrote in a text message, “I wonder how much this moron will pay” and “let’s find out”, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.
Estrada said investigators believed Perry “fell back into addiction” in 2023 and noted Perry’s vulnerability as a recovering addict.
Estrada alleged that Plasencia worked with Chavez to supply Perry with ketamine, which Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, would inject the actor with despite having no medical training.
Chavez, a 54-year-old doctor from San Diego, “has agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine,” according to the release.
Iwamasa, pleaded guilty on August 7 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death.
Eric Fleming, 54, of Hawthorne, California, has also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death, according to the US Attorney.
Fleming said in court documents that he distributed the ketamine that killed Perry, which Fleming said he obtained from Sangha.
Estrada said that over two months from September to October 2023, Perry was distributed “approximately 20 vials of ketamine” which cost him roughly $A81,800 ($US55,000).
“Defendant Plasencia saw this as an opportunity to profit off of Mr Perry,” Estrada said.
The actor was open about his long and public struggle with addiction, writing at the beginning of his 2022 million-selling memoir: “Hi, my name is Matthew, although you may know me by another name. My friends call me Matty. And I should be dead.”
The reference to death was by way of foreshadowing that he would cover in the book details of his years-long battles with drugs and alcohol, and the ill health that his addictions caused.
He received one Emmy nomination for his Friends role as Chandler Bing and two more for appearances as an associate White House counsel on The West Wing.
Perry also had several notable film roles, starring opposite Salma Hayek in the rom-com Fools Rush In and Bruce Willis in the crime comedy The Whole Nine Yards.
– With CNN
