The name of Jasveen Sangha (42) did not become known until her most famous client, Matthew Perry, became one of the victims of her business. Known in Hollywood drug trafficking circles as the ketamine queen, she has just pleaded guilty to several criminal charges following the actor's death on October 28, 2023. Although initially pleading not guilty, she has now reached an agreement with the prosecution and could face a possible sentence of between 11 and 45 years in prison.
She is accused of manufacturing and trafficking ketamine to profit from an established and organized business. Indirectly, also from the death of the Friends star. Ketamine is an anesthetic and analgesic substance that, in high doses, can cause hallucinations and be toxic. Her lawyer, Mark Geragos, has announced that she has "taken responsibility for her actions."
When Matthew Perry was found dead in the jacuzzi of his residence, the autopsy revealed that he had a very high dose of ketamine in his body. Approximately, an amount similar to what is usually used in surgical procedures where it is necessary to put the patient to sleep.
No trace of other drugs was found in Perry's body. In fact, he used ketamine to recover from his addiction to other substances such as cocaine, heroin, or alcohol.
After investigating the source of the ketamine, a trafficking network of this substance outside the medical environment was uncovered. It all started in Jasveen Sangha's clandestine laboratory, where the narcotic was manufactured. In March 2024, the police raided the drug dealer's house in North Hollywood and found 79 vials of liquid ketamine, MDMA designer drug pills, counterfeit Xanax pills, and a gold money counting machine. In addition to other elements for manufacturing narcotics. She has also taken responsibility for drug possession in the agreement.
The ketamine queen had a whole distribution network with contacts in Los Angeles and clients within the entertainment industry. Among them was the Friends star. Although he is not her only victim, nor the only one implicated in the legal case against her.
In August 2019, Cody McLaury, one of her regular buyers, died of an overdose just hours after she supplied him with drugs.
For this reason, authorities have deduced that she must have been aware of the perjury caused by the sale of ketamine and knew that it could even cause death in extreme cases. In fact, a relative of Cody McLaury sent her a message blaming her for his death. According to the investigation, after receiving this text, she conducted a Google search with the following query: "Can ketamine be listed as a cause of death?"
None of this stopped her from continuing her illegal business. Disregarding the fatal consequences her actions could have.
Nevertheless, Jasveen Sangha is just one link in the chain of those responsible for Matthew Perry's death. Also admitting their guilt are the two doctors who supplied ketamine to the actor, who was 54 at the time. Mark Chávez and Salvador Plasencia, the doctors' real names, accepted the charges and could face 40 years in prison for providing him with the drug and injecting it both at his home and in a Santa Monica parking lot where they met. Both doctors were in cahoots and exchanged messages. "I wonder how much more this idiot [for the drug] is going to pay," Plasencia commented to Chavez. To which Chavez replied, "Let's find out." Both could face 10 years in prison.
Another drug dealer named Erik Fleming has also admitted the charges as another regular supplier of Perry.
In August 2024, Kenneth Iwamasa, the actor's personal assistant, also confessed his guilt. He was the one who provided him with the three doses of ketamine that the queen had sent him days before his death. This was the final blow, according to the forensic evidence.
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Two days before the writer and producer's death, there was an exchange of messages between the ketamine queen and the other drug dealer, Erik Fleming. Both wanted to blame his assistant. "I'm 90% sure we're covered. I never dealt with him, only with his assistant, who is the facilitator," Fleming wrote to Sangha.
During the investigation, Sangha tried to make this exchange of messages disappear, so she ordered Fleming to delete them. She was unsuccessful.
She also failed when she was an aspiring singer and artist who had not been able to find work since 2019. This failure in the artistic world she combined with a more lucrative trafficking business. It has been proven that she has been a smuggler since the year she was left unemployed. Little else is known about her life except that she holds dual British and American citizenship. She was born in the UK, but moved to Los Angeles to try to succeed.