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To wit,Vanity Fairs recent article: Did Matthew Perrys Assistant Have a Choice?
Hollywood Veterans Arent So Sure.
Prosecutors painted a picture of callous enablement that eventually ended in Perrys tragic demise.
The duo, officials alleged, knowingly seized onPerrys vulnerabilitiesto line their own pockets.
Wait, go back: Who is charged with what?
Sangha is charged with distribution of the ketamine that caused Perrys death.
Plasencia is charged with ketamine distribution and altering and falsifying documents relating to the federal investigation.
Prosecutors claim that in late 2023, Plasencia learned that Perry was interested in getting ketamine.
Eventually, Sangha became one of Plasencias distributors for ketamine that went to Perry, prosecutors said.
Both have pleaded not guilty.
They are expected to go on trial in March 2025.
Werent other people involved?
Yes: Erik Fleming, Dr. Mark Chavez, and Kenneth Iwamasa.
Fleming has admitted that he distributed the ketamine that killed Perry, prosecutors said.
Fleming distributed half of these vials just four days before Perrys death.
Iwamasa was key to this enterprise, working with Sangha, Fleming, and Plasencia to sell Perry ketamine.
Chavez agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
What does the text-message evidence against them reveal?
Via text, they also arranged to meet so that Plasencia could get liquid ketamine.
That same day, Plasencia texted Perry saying that he would leave the vials with him for self-administration.
Plasencia allegedly showed Iwamasa how to inject Perry with ketamine and left drugs and syringes with him.
The charging paperwork lists numerous other texts between the alleged pushers.
(Dr. Pepper was a code name for the drug.)
Before meeting with Perry again, Plasencia allegedly told Chavez if today goes well we may have repeated business.
Plasencia and Iwamasa allegedly chatted in texts about injecting Perry with ketamine and efforts to get more.
When did things escalate with Jasveen Sangha?
In turn, Fleming messaged Iwamasa, saying, just got this from my person.
She only deal[s] with high end and celebs.
If it were not great stuff shed lose her business.
Fleming ultimately got ketamine from Sangha and then brought it to Perrys house, per court papers.
Prosecutors said that Fleming kept communicating with Sangha.
Im 90% sure everyone is protected, he wrote.
I never dealt with [Perry.].
So the Assistant was the enabler.
Also they are doing a 3 month tox screening …
Does K stay in your system or is it immediately flushed out[?].
What are people saying about Perrys assistant?
Iwamasas involvement has spurred discourse questioning whether hes a victim of some sort.
There were seven of us at dinner.
Four of us said we would have probably done it.
Some in the assistant world didnt feel torn about the situation at all, however.
Have other assistants chimed in?
I do, Chiu wrote in aNew YorkTimesop-ed.
She couldnt speak out until 2019 due to a nondisclosure agreement.
Along with invisible, the assistant can also be penniless, powerless and a vulnerable target.
Its far too easy to turn the butler into the scapegoat.
What have the accused said about the case?
Stefan Sacks, Plasencias attorney, slammed the allegations and insisted on his clients innocence.
The allegations against Dr. Plasencia are untrue and an example of government overreach.
Dr. Plasencia treated Mr. Perry for a short time and then stopped, Sacks said in an email.
My client is an innocent man who was practicing medicine and caring for his patient.
Sanghas legal team did not comment when contacted by Vulture.
The coroners report does not reflect the homicide.
It reflects an accidental death.
I think all of these so-called urban legends that somehow my client knew Matthew Perry are demonstrably false.
