Five people — including his assistant and two doctors — arrested in Matthew Perry’s ketamine death after police probe

Five people, including Matthew Perry’s personal assistant and a woman known as the “Ketamine Queen of Los Angeles,” have been arrested in connection to the “Friends” star’s overdose death last fall , authorities announced Thursday.

Kenneth Iwamasa, Perry’s assistant, along with Dr. Mark Chavez, and Dr. Salvador Plasencia are all facing a slew of federal charges, including conspiracy to distribute ketamine, the New York Times first reported , citing documents filed by the Central District of California.

Authorities also charged Perry’s friend Erik Fleming and Jasveen Sangha – an alleged drug dealer prosecutors claim was known as the “Ketamine Queen of Los Angeles” – in connection with Perry’s death.

“These defendants took advantage of Mr. Perry’s addiction issues to enrich themselves. They knew what they were doing was wrong,” US Attorney Martin Estrada said at a press conference announcing the charges Thursday.

Perry, 54, was found floating face down in the hot tub at his Pacific Palisades home by his assistant on Oct. 28, 2023. He was declared dead by the paramedics called to the scene.

It was not immediately clear on Thursday if Iwamasa is the same assistant who reported Perry’s death to authorities.

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News of the possible arrests was first reported by TMZ , which suggested that the suspects included at least one physician and “several” drug dealers.

Perry’s cause of death was attributed to the acute effects of the anesthetic ketamine.

At the time of his death, the actor had about 3.54 micrograms per milliliter of ketamine in his bloodstream –which is nearly three times the normal amount.

Perry, who was open about his struggle with mental illness and addiction, was undergoing ketamine therapy for depression, but he had last been treated over a week before he died, according to the autopsy report.

The drug in Perry’s system could not have been from his treatment, because ketamine’s half-life is only three to four hours, the coroner said.

Dr. Plasencia, who worked at an urgent care center, allegedly helped Perry procure additional ketamine despite knowing about his history of drug abuse, according to the indictment.

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On Sept. 30, 2023, Plasencia supposedly texted Dr. Chavez about getting ketamine for Perry, who is identified in the indictment by the initials “M.P.,” the New York Times reported.

“I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia allegedly wrote to Chavez.

Perry’s ketamine treatments are believed to have been overseen by Dr. Andre Atoian, who was named in his autopsy report.

Dr. Atoian, 45, is an anesthesiologist and addiction medicine specialist. He is listed as the founder medical director of Ketamine Specialists, a clinic in Toluca Lake that provides ketamine therapy for pain and mood disorders.

As of Thursday afternoon, it was not immediately clear if Atoian was one of the doctors who was arrested.

Atoian did not immediately return The Post’s calls to both his medical practice and his mobile number.

In May, Los Angeles authorities announced they had partnered with the DEA and the US Postal Service to investigate who may have illegally prescribed the ketamine Perry was using when he died.

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Law enforcement “executed search warrants and seized computers, phones and other electronic equipment” as part of the investigation, according to TMZ.

One search warrant is believed to have been served to the home of Brooke Mueller, the ex-wife of actor Charlie Sheen, who was once in recovery with Perry, the outlet’s Harvey Levin claimed .

Mueller is not believed to be connected to the arrests, he noted.

The search warrant also reportedly revealed text messages discussing Perry and arranging to get ketamine to him.

The texts supposedly included discussions about how much the “17 Again” actor was willing to pay for the drug.

Perry’s autopsy also listed drowning, coronary artery disease and buprenorphine effects as contributing factors to his death.

Perry wrote about his years-long battle with substance abuse in his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.”

He revealed in the book that he received ketamine infusions while in a Swiss rehab clinic during the pandemic.

“Ketamine was a very popular street drug in the 1980s. There is a synthetic form of it now, and it’s used for two reasons: to ease pain and help with depression,” he said, adding, “Has my name written all over it — they might as well have called it ‘Matty.’“

The star described the drug as a “giant exhale,” and explained he would “disassociate” during his infusions and often felt as if he were “dying.”

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