Film & TV2 min(s) read
Published 19:28 27 May 2026 GMT
Matthew Perry’s live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa has been sentenced to 41 months in prison for his role in the Friends actor’s death.
The 60-year-old personal assistant injected the late star with ketamine and worked with doctors to procure $50,000 worth of the tranquilizer in the weeks before his death.
Iwamasa had no medical training, and has now been sentenced to prison for his actions after a lengthy trial.
Perry was found dead in October 2023 in his backyard hot tub in Los Angeles.
As well as his custodial sentence, Iwamasa was also sentenced to two years of supervised release and fined $10,000.
He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death in August 2024, and had been facing a maximum jail sentence of up to 15 years.
In sentencing, Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett made reference to the fact that Iwamasa knew Perry was an addict and added that he concealed evidence following the star’s death.
In court, Iwamasa made an apology to the family of the star, who were also present in the courtroom.
He told them: "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,
"I hope I'll be a cautionary tale to someone who's in my position to make better choices."
He added that he was ‘horribly sorry’ for his actions.
Perry’s mother and sister had previously submitted their own letters to the judge offering their thoughts on the sentencing to come.
Perry’s sister Caitlin Morrison said: "I have no sympathy for Kenny Iwamasa.”
He was, she said ‘either escaping from something he knew he had done or he was willfully abandoning a vulnerable person in a dangerous situation’.
His other sister Madeline said that Iwamasa was ‘more culpable’ than the ketamine dealer Jasveen Sangha.
