Matthew Perry Spends $55K on 55 Ketamine Vials with Assistant in 29 Days

Matthew Perry and his live-in assistant Kenny Iwamasa spent a minimum of $55,000 on 55 ketamine vials and related injections in the 29 days prior to the actor’s fatal overdose at the age of 54 on October 28, 2023. Iwamasa had sent consecutive text messages seeking more of the surgical anesthetic from his suppliers, including an illegal transaction, authorities with the Department of Justice said, US Weekly reported on Sunday after reviewing court documents in the cast against Iwamasa.

Iwamasa (pictured)- one of five people arrested earlier this month in connection with Perry’s passing – in one instance convened with the Friends actor and Dr. Salvador Plasencia in a parking lot, where the actor had been injected with ketamine, according to legal docs reviewed by the outlet. Iwamasa and Plasencia had ‘exchanged thousands in cash for bottles’ of ketamine, legal docs stated, noting that Plasencia had injected Perry with ketamine at his home on numerous occasions.

Plasencia in one instance injected the Williamstown, Massachusetts native, who played Chandler Bing on the NBC series, ‘within hours’ of Perry already having been injected with ketamine. The double dose led to Perry’s systolic blood pressure rising to dangerous levels, according to legal docs, with the actor ‘unable to speak or move’ as result of the injections. Iwamasa illegally spent $6,000 on 25 bottles of ketamine, according to legal docs, nine days after he purchased 25 ketamine vials illegally. In that instance, Perry was injected six times in one day by Iwamasa, and 18 additional times in the next three days, legal docs stated. Perry, on the day of his death, was injected with ketamine by Iwamasa three times, as he allegedly told his assistant to ‘shoot me up with a big one,’ the outlet reported, citing court docs.

New details drawn from unsealed federal court documents and a medical examiner’s investigation provide a chronological look at the end of Perry’s life. On September 30, Perry and Iwamasa met at their home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles with Plasencia. Perry had been receiving ketamine treatments for depression – an increasingly common off-label use – from his regular doctor, but wasn’t able to get as much as he wanted. Plasencia texted a doctor friend in San Diego, Mark Chavez, who agreed to obtain ketamine for him. ‘I wonder how much this moron will pay,’ Plasencia texted Chavez. The two met up the same day in Costa Mesa, California – halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego – and exchanged at least four vials of ketamine.

Plasencia returned to Perry’s house, where Iwamasa paid him $4,500 in cash for the vials. Plasencia gave Perry two injections of ketamine, and instructed Iwamasa on how to give the injections to the actor. Plasencia texted Chavez that the experience ‘felt like a bad movie.’ On October 2, Iwamasa texted Plasencia saying he wanted to buy not just injection sessions, but to be left with more vials of ketamine, referring to it in agreed-upon code as ‘dr pepper.’ Plasencia appeared, gave Perry the injections, and left behind the vials of the anesthetic.

On October 4, Iwamasa injected Perry himself for the first time. He texted the doctor that he had found ‘the sweet spot’ to put the needle into his boss, but that trying different spots on Perry had led to them running out, and they needed more. Plasencia texted Chavez asking if he could keep supplying the drug so they could become Perry’s ‘go-to.’ On October 6, Iwamasa told Plasencia they were running low, and needed more. Plasencia went to Perry’s house and sold him one or more vials. On October 8, in a late night meetup at a Santa Monica, California shopping plaza, Plasencia sold Iwamasa four vials of ketamine for $6,000 in cash.