Kenneth Iwamasa, the 60-year-old live-in personal assistant to Friends star Matthew Perry, was sentenced on Wednesday to 41 months in federal prison for his role in the actor's death. A Los Angeles judge also ordered two years of supervised release and a $10,000 fine. Iwamasa, who had no medical training, admitted to repeatedly injecting Perry with ketamine and to working with two doctors to supply the actor with more than $50,000 worth of the drug in the weeks before his death. He is due to report to prison on 17 July.

Perry, best known for playing Chandler Bing in the long-running American sitcom Friends (1994–2004), was found dead in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home on 28 October 2023. He was 54. An autopsy determined that acute ketamine intoxication was the primary cause of death, with drowning listed as a contributing factor. Perry had been legally prescribed ketamine to treat depression and anxiety, but when his doctor declined to increase the dose, he sought out other sources. Iwamasa, who had met Perry in 1992 and moved in with him in 2022, was paid $150,000 a year and became the person who administered the drug — doing so six to eight times a day in Perry's final days, including on the morning Perry died, before leaving him alone.

Sentencing Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett was unsparing in her assessment.