Matthew Perry. David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images
Matthew Perry’s friends and family were “blindsided” and “saddened” by the arrest of his personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa amid a drug investigation surrounding the actor’s death.
“Matthew kept secrets,” a source close to Matthew exclusively tells Us Weekly. “I wouldn’t be shocked if Kenny was the only one who knew how bad it really was.”
According to the insider, Iwamasa started working for the Friends actor around June 2022 after being his orbit for a while, working for Perry’s manager, producer Doug Chapin.
“When they brought in Kenny they thought he would be a great fit because he worked for Doug for years,” explains the source.
“When he was brought on it was already chaotic. Matthew wasn’t actually sober. He had been going in and out of sobriety. And multiple people were helping to take care of him.”
“Kenny knew the situation and could deal with Matthew.”
Per the source, Iwamasa was a trusted member of Perry’s team: “When Matthew’s [previous] assistant left they didn’t hire a new one for a while. Matthew wasn’t acting at the time so someone was needed only to handle his life and around the house.”
“Kenny presented himself to be a decent person.” (Per his LinkedIn profile, Iwamasa labeled himself a “discreet” and “loyal” person who “thrives in chaotic situations” and honors “absolute confidentiality.”)
In May, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that they had opened an investigation into Perry’s death, focusing specifically on how Perry obtained the ketamine found in his system when he died. (Perry was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home in October 2023. A toxicology report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that Perry died from “the acute effects of ketamine” with drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, which is used to treat opioid use, listed as contributing factors.)
Five people were arrested on Thursday, August 15, in connection with the investigation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California confirmed in a press release. In addition to Iwamasa, his acquaintance Erik Fleming, Dr. Salvador Plasencia, a licensed physician, Jasveen Sangha, an alleged drug dealer known as “The Ketamine Queen” and Dr. Mark Chavez, another physician, were also arrested.
Iwamasa pleaded guilty on August 7 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death and admitted to repeatedly injecting Perry with ketamine without medical training, including on the day he died.
In addition, Chavez agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine while Fleming pleaded guilty on August 8 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. (Fleming admitted in court documents that he distributed the ketamine that killed Perry, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
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The indictment also claims that Plasencia learned in September 2023 that Perry was interested in obtaining ketamine. He contacted Chavez, who previously operated a ketamine clinic, to obtain ketamine for the actor. Plasencia then allegedly “distributed ketamine to Perry and Iwamasa outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose on “at least seven occasions” during September and October of 2023.
In text messages to Chavez discussing how much to charge Perry for ketamine, Plasencia allegedly wrote, “I wonder how much this moron will pay.”
United States Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement: “These defendants cared more about profiting off of Mr. Perry than caring for his well-being. Drug dealers selling dangerous substances are gambling with other people’s lives over greed. This case, along with our many other prosecutions of drug dealers who cause death, send a clear message that we will hold drug dealers accountable for the deaths they cause.”