Matthew Perry’s Sisters Slam Assistant Who Injected Him with Ketamine and 'Left Him in a Hot Tub to Die'

Matthew Perry’s Sisters Slam Assistant Who Injected Him with Ketamine and 'Left Him in a Hot Tub to Die' https://ift.tt/zAtv89C

Kenneth Iwamasa pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death in August 2024

Kenny Iwamasa (left) and Matthew Perry (right)
Credit: Mega Agency; Santiago Felipe/Getty

NEED TO KNOW

• Matthew Perry's sisters, Caitlin and Madeline Morrison, criticized Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, for enabling their brother’s drug use and described the sense of betrayal they felt upon learning about his actions in victim impact statements obtained by PEOPLE
  
• Iwamasa pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine, in connection with Perry's death
• In the victim impact statements, Perry's sisters described the anguish of learning what they say really happened to their brother. “In many ways, it felt like my brother died all over again,” Madeline wrote
  

Matthew Perry’s sisters are sharing their grief in searing victim impact statements submitted to the court ahead of Wednesday's sentencing for the late actor's personal assistant Kenneth "Kenny" Iwamasa, one of five people convicted of crimes connected to Perry’s 2023 ketamine overdose death.

In October 2023, Perry was found dead in his hot tub, and the cause of death was determined to be "acute effects of ketamine." He was 54.

The Department of Justice determined that Iwamasa had "repeatedly" injected Perry with ketamine "without medical training," including performing multiple injections on him on the day he died.

In court filings submitted May 20, Perry’s sisters, Caitlin and Madeline Morrison, described Iwamasa as a man who “left him in a hot tub to die” and then spent days allegedly misleading grieving relatives about what really happened inside Perry’s Pacific Palisades home.

Matthew Perry
Credit: courtesy Matthew Perry Foundation

“It is difficult to put into words the sense of betrayal I felt when I found out what Kenny had done,” Madeline wrote in a statement addressed to U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Garnett.

“In many ways, it felt like my brother died all over again. Everything I believed about the day he died—everything Kenny told us—was a lie," she continued, adding: "The idea that someone my brother considered family could betray him in such an unimaginable way is something I never could have conceived."

Matthew Perry (left) and mother Suzanne Perry (right).
Credit: Mike Pont/WireImage; Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty

The emotional statements were filed as part of the federal criminal proceedings tied to Perry’s death on Oct. 28, 2023. Perry's mother Suzanne Morrison, mother to Caitlin and Madeline, also shared more details about her feelings regarding Iwamasa in her own impact statement.

"Kenny’s most important job — by far — was to be my son’s companion and guardian in his fight against addiction. His number-one responsibility — ensure that Matthew remained what he wanted to be: drug free," Suzanne, 82, wrote. "And when he had killed my son, he kept a sharp eye on me," she added.

In additional filings, the sisters described how the government’s account of the case forced the family to reexamine the days surrounding Perry’s death with new and painful clarity.

Madeline said that learning the government’s version of events caused them to relive his death “from an entirely new and devastating perspective.” Looking back, she wrote, moments that once seemed like shock-stricken grief now appeared deeply unsettling.

“A few days after Matthew died, my sister and I went to choose clothes for him to be buried in — one of the most surreal and heartbreaking experiences of my life,” she wrote. “I remember how manic and unsettled Kenny seemed. He repeatedly volunteered his version of events without being asked, as if he were being interviewed rather than mourning a friend."

“In reality,” she alleged, “he was trying to distract us from the truth: that he had injected my brother with a lethal dose of ketamine and left him in a hot tub to die.”

Madeline claimed Iwamasa's presence at Perry’s funeral remained difficult for the family to process.

“Kenny even spoke at Matthew’s funeral,” she wrote. “The person responsible for my brother’s death stood up and addressed the people who loved him most. That is like a cruel joke I still struggle with. He didn’t just take my brother’s life—he tainted our final memories of saying goodbye."

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Caitlin echoed that fury in a separate statement, writing that she has “no sympathy” for Iwamasa.

“I cannot read Kenny’s thoughts,” she said. “I will never know if the lethal dose of ketamine was only lethal by accident. But I know that when Kenny left the house, he was doing one of two things. He was either escaping from something he knew he had done or he was willfully abandoning a vulnerable person in a dangerous situation.”

She accused him not only of abandoning Perry, but also of attempting to manipulate the aftermath. “What I would not do is hound the grieving family left behind,” Caitlin added. “I would not weave a story to cover my tracks. I would not try to extort a payout from a mother whose first-born son’s life had been lost at my hands.”

According to the Department of Justice, Iwamasa was accused of conspiring with Jasveen Sangha, Erik Fleming and Dr. Salvador Plasencia to illegally obtain ketamine and distribute it to Perry.

Jasveen Sangha (left); Erik Fleming; Mark Chavez; Salvador Plasencia (right).
Credit: Jojo Korsh/BFA.com/Shutterstock; BACKGRID; Getty (2)

Sangha, Fleming, Plasencia and Dr. Mark Chavez — who admitted to helping distribute ketamine to Plasencia — have all pleaded guilty to various charges tied to the case.

Sangha, dubbed the "Ketamine Queen," was sentenced to 15 years in prison in April after pleading guilty to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury.

In Madeline's victim impact statement, she referenced Sangha’s sentencing and a question Judge Garnett posed about culpability.

“Your honor, you asked counsel a question at the sentencing of Jasveen Sangha about who was more culpable,” she wrote, “...the drug dealer responsible for supplying the drugs that killed my brother, or the so-called loyal assistant who bought the drugs by any means necessary, injected him with a lethal dose and left him to die.”

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Iwamasa's sentencing is set for Wednesday, May 27, where he faces up to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death.

Prosecutors have recommended a sentence of 41 months in prison plus three years supervised release, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE.

“For the past two and a half years, my family has been living a kind of sentence of our own,” Madeline wrote in her statement, adding that, “When I think of Matthew — of Manew — I want to smile again. I want to remember his laugh, his incredible humor, the game nights and the movie marathons.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.