Was Matthew Perry's Assistant Kenny Iwamasa Supposed To Help Him Stay Clean?

"I thrive in chaotic situations," Matthew Perry's live-in assistant Kenny Iwamasa wrote on his LinkedIn page , where he lists his occupation as talent manager, and proved it in  final weeks leading up to October 28, 2023 when the actor was found floating face down in his hot tub dead of an overdose.

There were the post-midnight drug deals Iwamasa made with allegedly dirty doctor Salvador "Dr. P" Plasencia at Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade where Perry's assistant handed over $6000 for what the duo codenamed "dr pepper" but was really ketamine.

Iwamasa had worked with Perry since 1994 and was all too familiar with the actor's well-documented history with drug addiction and substance abuse. In his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, he said addiction led him into a spiral of periodic sobriety and relapse that led to 15 rehab stays, 65 detox stints, and 14 surgeries due to opioid abuse.

Federal prosecutors say Iwamasa was there on what the Department of Justice calls the "multiple occasions," when Perry sought "assistance to treat his drug addiction and to maintain his sobriety." Part of Iwamasa's job responsibilities, according to court documents, was "coordinating medical appointments," and "taking steps to ensure," that Perry "took the medication," that had been lawfully prescribed to Perry by treating physicians to help him stay sober.

But in September 2023, Perry was back in the spiral of addiction and turned to Iwamasa to help him procure vials of ketamine - which has been increasingly used to treat depression - that had not been prescribed to him, according to court documents. Perry, prosecutors say, gave Iwamasa piles of cash and "directed him to find sources from whom to acquire the drugs."

Iwamasa turned to Perry's buddy Erik Fleming, who introduced the assistant to Plasencia, who saw an opportunity to make some money off the struggling addict, texting to another doctor charged in the case, San Diego ketamine clinic manager Mark Chavez, "how much do you think this moron will pay," to which the response came, "let's find out."

On September 30, 2023, Plasencia drove to Perry's Pacific Palisades home with liquid ketamine and ketamine lozenges, injecting Perry twice with the liquid drug, prosecutors say. He then taught Iwamasa how to inject Perry before leaving with $4500 in cash "approximately five minutes after administering the second dose of ketamine," to the actor.

Days later, Perry needed more drugs and Iwamasa was ready to sell them: “For 8 treatments we can just make it an even 25k, he wrote to the assistant, adding “I will bring needles of higher gauge.” It was then that the ketamine was then referenced as Dr. Pepper in text messages.

Soon Iwamasa spent nearly every day chasing the drug from dirty doctors. And from a sultry artist named Jasveen Sangha, prosecutors call the "Ketamine Queen," who is now accused of running a North Hollywood drug dealing emporium.

"In the days leading up to Perry's death," prosecutors say, Iwamasa shot him up with "significant quantities of ketamine." In October, Perry was found unconscious from the drug at least twice before his last day on earth. His first shot was injected by Iwamasa at 8:30 a.m. Another one came at 12:45 p.m., while "Perry watched a movie," prosecutors say. "Approximately 40 minutes later," according to court records, Perry asked his assistant to prep the jacuzzi and said: “shoot me up with a big one.”

Iwamasa left Perry high, in the hot tub, to run errands. When he got back, Perry was dead from what the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner called "acute effects of ketamine."

The assistant was arrested on July 5, 2024 and charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Ketamine Resulting in Death and Serious Bodily Injury. He has since entered into a plea deal with the government.