A licensed drug addiction counselor who supplied Matthew Perry with the ketamine that killed him was sentenced to two years in prison on Wednesday. Erik Fleming, 56, received the sentence from Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett in a Los Angeles federal court.
Defendant Expresses Remorse
“It’s truly a nightmare I can’t wake up from,” Fleming told the judge before the sentence. “I’m haunted by the mistakes I made.” Dressed in a black suit, he spoke in a deep, somber voice from the podium.
Fleming is the fourth of five defendants who have pleaded guilty in connection with Perry’s 2023 death in the Jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home. He connected Perry to Jasveen Sangha, the convicted drug dealer prosecutors called “The Ketamine Queen,” who was sentenced last month to 15 years in prison.
Cooperation and Guilty Plea
Fleming gave up Sangha to investigators as soon as they contacted him and became the first defendant to plead guilty in August 2024, admitting to one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. This was his first court appearance since his role became public knowledge.
Without his cooperation, federal sentencing guidelines would have recommended about four years in prison. Prosecutors noted in a sentencing memo that while his cooperation warranted a lighter sentence, his role as a drug counselor who “deliberately undertook to sell illegal street drugs to a victim who had a public, well-documented battle with drug addiction” should count against him, even though Perry was not one of his regular clients.
Defense Request and Atonement
Defense lawyers had requested a sentence of three months in prison and nine months in a residential drug treatment facility, arguing that Fleming “has gone to extreme lengths to atone for his criminal conduct.” Fleming stated that his remorse “can’t compare to the agony I’ve caused” to Perry’s family and friends.
Perry had been receiving ketamine treatments for depression, an increasingly common off-label use. Weeks before his death, he sought more of the drug than doctors could provide and asked a friend for help. That friend, who was in a treatment facility, introduced Perry to Fleming. Fleming, a former film and television producer whose career was ravaged by addiction, got sober and became a drug counselor but relapsed after the 2023 death of his beloved stepmother.
Details of the Scheme
Fleming obtained ketamine from Sangha, marked up the price, and delivered it to Perry’s home, selling it to the actor’s live-in personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa. “I procured ketamine for Matthew Perry because I wanted the money and because I thought I was doing a favor for a friend,” Fleming wrote in a letter to the court. “I never contemplated the worst possible outcome. This grievous failure will haunt me forever.”
His deliveries included 25 vials for $6,000 four days before Perry’s death. On October 28, 2023, Iwamasa injected Perry from that batch, and hours later found the actor dead. A medical examiner’s report determined that Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine, with drowning as a secondary cause.
Upcoming Sentencing and Legacy
Iwamasa is set to be the last defendant sentenced in two weeks. Perry, who died at 54, became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing on the NBC sitcom “Friends,” which ran from 1994 to 2004. An auction of his valuables, including “Friends” memorabilia, will benefit the foundation founded in his name after his death.
