LOS ANGELES — Kenneth Iwamasa was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for his role in actor Matthew Perry’s death by administering illegal ketamine injections. Iwamasa, Perry’s live-in personal assistant, also received two years of supervised release and was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.

Iwamasa pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death. He had no medical training but repeatedly injected Perry with ketamine, including multiple times on the day Perry died in October 2023. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner determined that Perry’s death was caused by the acute effects of ketamine, with drowning listed as a contributing factor.

According to court records, Iwamasa worked with two doctors and others to supply Perry with more than $50,000 worth of ketamine in the weeks before his death. In Perry’s final days, Iwamasa injected him with the drug six to eight times per day. On October 23, 2023, Iwamasa administered a large dose of ketamine and left to run errands; he returned to find Perry unresponsive in the backyard hot tub at his Los Angeles home.

“I'm so sorry to all of you. I'm just so sorry to have done illegal acts that I will forever regret. I will take it to my grave,” Iwamasa said in court. He added, “I hope I'll be a cautionary tale to someone who's in my position to make better choices.”

Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett stated that Iwamasa knew Perry should not have used ketamine in the amounts he did and saw the negative effects yet continued to procure and inject the drug. She also said Iwamasa made concrete steps to destroy evidence after Perry’s death and repeatedly lied to police about his involvement.

Suzanne Morrison, Perry’s mother, wrote that Iwamasa’s “most important job” was to be her son's companion and guardian in his fight against addiction and ensure Perry remained drug free. “We trusted a man without a conscience, and my son paid the price,” she wrote.

Iwamasa’s lawyers argued in a court filing that he was an employee doing his employer’s bidding and had a “particular vulnerability” in his relationship to Perry, writing, “In short, he could not simply say no. That inability had tragic consequences.”