LOS ANGELES – On Wednesday, a sentencing is scheduled for Erik Fleming, a certified drug addiction counselor implicated in the ketamine overdose that led to “Friends” star Matthew Perry’s demise.
Prosecutors are recommending a 2 1/2-year prison sentence for the 56-year-old Fleming, who is among five individuals who admitted guilt related to the actor’s tragic 2023 passing at his Los Angeles residence. Fleming was the link between Perry and Jasveen Sangha, labeled by prosecutors as “The Ketamine Queen.” Sangha received a 15-year prison sentence last month.
Fleming’s defense team is advocating for a lighter sentence of three months imprisonment, followed by nine months in a residential drug rehabilitation center. They argue in their sentencing brief that Fleming has made significant efforts to rectify his wrongdoing.
Upon initial contact by investigators, Fleming promptly identified Sangha and, by August 2024, was the first to confess, pleading guilty to distributing ketamine that resulted in death. This admission came even before the case’s arrests were made public.
He will be the fourth person sentenced in this case by Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett in the Los Angeles federal court. This appearance marks the first time Fleming will face the court since his involvement was revealed.
In their sentencing proposal, prosecutors acknowledged Fleming’s substantial cooperation as a factor for leniency but emphasized the severity of his actions. They highlighted his betrayal of trust as a drug counselor, who knowingly provided illicit substances to an individual with a highly publicized struggle with addiction, even if Perry was not one of his clients.
Perry had been receiving ketamine treatments for depression — an increasingly common off-label use.
A few weeks before his death, Perry was seeking more of the drug than he could get through doctors and asked a friend to help him get more. She was in a treatment facility, so introduced Perry to Fleming. He was a former film and television producer whose career had been ravaged by addiction. He got sober and became a drug counselor, but had relapsed after the 2023 death of a beloved stepmother who had rescued him from a traumatic childhood, his lawyers said.
Fleming would get ketamine from Sangha, mark up the price to make a profit, and deliver it to Perry’s house where he sold 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 said 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.
Iwamasa would inject Perry from that batch on Oct. 28, 2023, and hours later he found the actor dead. A medical examiner’s report found that Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine, a surgical anesthetic, and drowning was a secondary cause.
Fleming can technically get 25 years in prison, but it’s very unlikely it will be anywhere near that much.
His lawyers say he has undergone a “transformative” rehabilitation since Perry’s death.
“I will accept my punishment with humility and spend the rest of my life working to become worthy of forgiveness,” Fleming’s letter said.
Iwamasa is the last defendant to be sentenced in two weeks.
Perry, who died at 54, became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing on “Friends,” NBC’s culture-changing sitcom that ran from 1994 to 2004.
An auction of his valuables including “Friends” memorabilia will go to benefit the foundation founded in his name soon after his death.
