By Lisa Richwine
LOS ANGELES, May 13 (Reuters) – A man who helped supply “Friends” star Matthew Perry with the drug ketamine before the actor’s overdose death in 2023 was sentenced to two years in prison on Wednesday.
Erik Fleming had pleaded guilty in August 2024 to conspiracy to distribute ketamine and distribution of ketamine resulting in death. Prosecutors said Fleming, a former licensed drug addiction counselor, purchased vials of ketamine from a dealer and sold them to Perry’s live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who injected Perry with a fatal dose.
Judge Sherilyn Garnett also sentenced Fleming to three years of supervised probation following his prison term, a Justice Department spokesperson said.
Medical examiners concluded that Perry died from acute effects of ketamine, which combined with other factors to cause the actor to lose consciousness and drown in his hot tub in October 2023. He was 54 years old.
Perry had publicly acknowledged decades of substance abuse, including periods that overlapped with the height of his fame playing the sardonic but charming Chandler Bing on the 1990s hit NBC television comedy “Friends.”
Ketamine, a short-acting anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties, is prescribed to treat depression and anxiety, but it also has gained popularity as an illicit party drug among recreational users.
Fleming was the fourth of five people to be sentenced in connection with Perry’s death.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Mark Porter)
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