A licensed drug addiction counselor was sentenced Wednesday to two years in federal prison for his role in delivering the ketamine that killed "Friends" star Matthew Perry in 2023.
Erik Fleming, 56, received the sentence from U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett in Los Angeles federal court. Fleming also received three years of probation and must report to prison within 45 days.
"It's truly a nightmare I can't wake up from," Fleming told the judge. "I'm haunted by the mistakes I made."
Fleming was the fourth of five defendants sentenced in Perry's death. He cooperated early with investigators, identifying drug dealer Jasveen Sangha—dubbed "The Ketamine Queen" by prosecutors—who was sentenced last month to 15 years in prison.
Perry, 54, died Oct. 28, 2023, at his Los Angeles home from acute ketamine effects.
A medical examiner determined ketamine was the primary cause of death, with drowning listed as a secondary factor. Perry had been legally receiving the drug as an off-label treatment for depression, but in the weeks before his death, he sought quantities beyond what his doctors would provide.
That search led him to Fleming, a former film and television producer whose career had been derailed by addiction. Fleming had gotten sober and reinvented himself as a drug counselor, but relapsed following the 2023 death of a stepmother who had helped rescue him from a difficult childhood, his lawyers said. A mutual friend, then in a treatment facility, introduced the two men.
Fleming was a middleman. He sourced ketamine from Sangha, marked up the price for profit, and delivered it to Perry's live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa. Four days before Perry's death, Fleming delivered 25 vials for $6,000. Iwamasa injected Perry from that batch on Oct. 28, 2023, and hours later found the actor dead.
Fleming became the first defendant to plead guilty in the case, admitting in August 2024 to one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death—before arrests in the case were even publicly announced. Wednesday was his first court appearance since his involvement became public.
Investigators found Fleming at his sister's house, where he was sleeping on the couch months after Perry's death. He immediately gave up Sangha.
"They didn't have a clue who she was before that day," Fleming's attorney, Robert Dugdale, told the judge, adding that his client had "handed over the Ketamine Queen on a silver platter."
Without that cooperation, federal sentencing guidelines would have placed Fleming's prison term at roughly four years. Defense lawyers had sought just three months in custody followed by nine months in a residential drug treatment facility, pointing to Fleming's clean prior record and arguing he spent only 11 days dealing drugs to a single customer.
Prosecutors acknowledged the value of his cooperation but pushed back on the notion that it reflected genuine remorse.
"Mr. Fleming didn't cooperate because he had a benevolent motive, or because he wanted justice for Mr. Perry," Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian Yanniello said. "He wanted to save himself."
Judge Garnett noted that Fleming had stayed silent for months after Perry's death and did not proactively reach out to authorities. Still, all sides agreed his cooperation accelerated the investigation.
Prosecutors argued in a sentencing memo that Fleming's professional background made his conduct especially troubling—a drug counselor who "deliberately undertook to sell illegal street drugs to a victim who had a public, well-documented battle with drug addiction.”
Standing at the podium in a black suit, Fleming addressed the court. "My great remorse," he said, "can't compare to the agony I've caused" to Perry's family and friends. His attorneys highlighted 20 months of sobriety and his work helping establish a sober living home. After the hearing, he embraced friends who had come to support him.
Sangha, 42, was the only defendant whose plea deal formally acknowledged causing Perry's death and received the longest sentence of the group. She admitted to running a high-end ketamine operation out of her North Hollywood home and pleaded guilty to multiple distribution counts, including one resulting in death. Judge Garnett cited the breadth and duration of Sangha's drug enterprise in justifying the 15-year term.
Perry's stepfather, Keith Morrison, a correspondent for NBC's "Dateline," told the court during Sangha's sentencing that he and Perry's mother carry a "daily, grinding sadness and sorrow.
"There was a spark to that man I have never seen anywhere else," Morrison said. "He should have had another act. Two more acts."
Perry became one of the most recognized television actors of his generation, playing Chandler Bing on "Friends," which ran from 1994 to 2004.
Iwamasa, Perry's personal assistant, is set to be the last of the five defendants sentenced, with a hearing scheduled in two weeks.