An addiction counsellor who delivered the ketamine doses to Matthew Perry that killed the Friends star has been sentenced to two years in prison.
Erik Fleming pleaded guilty in 2024 to conspiracy to distribute ketamine and distribution of the drug resulting in death or serious injury, after connecting Perry with drug dealer Jasveen Sangha.
Prosecutors said Sangha was known as the “Ketamine Queen” because of her jet-setting lifestyle. She was jailed for 15 years last month.
In legal documents, prosecutors said Fleming helped distribute 51 vials of ketamine to Perry in October 2023, including the dose that caused his death.
Erik Fleming departs a federal court in Los Angeles after being sentenced. Pic: AP
Fleming, 56, told the judge, Sherilyn Peace Garnett, in a federal court in Los Angeles on Wednesday: “It’s truly a nightmare I can’t wake up from. I’m haunted by the mistakes I made.”
He had submitted a letter to the court ahead of sentencing, describing how he too had struggled with addiction and saying he felt “overwhelmed with grief and shame” when he found out the star had died.
“I knew what I had done and understood how much pain his death would cause to the people who loved him,” he wrote. “To Matt’s family, I am very sorry for my inexcusable behaviour in this case.
“I take full responsibility for my criminal acts. I hope my sentence provides some measure of justice and peace for everyone who loved Matt.”
Perry, 54, had struggled with substance addiction on and off for years before his death in the jacuzzi at his LA home on 28 October 2023.
Jasveen Sangha was jailed for 15 years for supplying ketamine to Perry. Pic: Jojo Korsh/BFA.com/Shutterstock
A medical examiner’s report found that Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine, a surgical anaesthetic, and drowning was a secondary cause.
In his letter, Fleming described becoming certified as a counsellor after speaking to addicts about his own recovery. He said he met the Friends star a few times and was aware of his issues, but that in October 2023 he was “in the midst of a relapse” himself and “desperate” for money.
“I procured ketamine for Matthew Perry because I wanted the money and because I thought I was doing a favour for a friend,” he wrote. “I never contemplated the worst possible outcome.”
Fleming gave up Sangha to investigators the same day they found him at his sister’s house several months after Perry’s death.
Perry rose to fame in Friends alongside David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston and Matt Le Blanc. Pic: Reuters
Fleming’s lawyer Robert Dugdale told the judge he “handed over the Ketamine Queen on a silver platter”.
“They didn’t have a clue who she was before that day,” Mr Dugdale said.
He would have received a four-year jail term if it wasn’t for his cooperation, according to federal sentencing guidelines.
Fleming was the first of five defendants to plead guilty to charges related to Perry’s death, in August 2024, before arrests were announced.
He is the fourth of the five to be sentenced, after Sangha and doctors Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez.
Plasencia was jailed for two-and-a-half years for illegally supplying ketamine to Perry in the weeks before his death.
Chavez was sentenced to eight months home confinement after admitting selling ketamine to Plasencia.
Kenneth Iwamasa, Perry’s live-in assistant, is to be sentenced in May.
