'Ketamine Queen' pleads guilty to supplying fatal dose that killed Friends star Matthew Perry

A woman known as the "Ketamine Queen" has officially pleaded guilty to selling Friends star Matthew Perry the drug that killed him.

Jasveen Sangha initially denied the charges but agreed to change her plea in a signed statement in August, just a few weeks before she had been due to stand trial. The 42-year-old, a dual citizen of the US and the UK, has now appeared in a federal court in Los Angeles to plead guilty to five charges, including supplying the ketamine that led to Perry's death.

She faces up to 65 years in prison after admitting one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. Prosecutors agreed to drop three other counts related to the distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of methamphetamine that was unrelated to the Perry case.

In a brief statement when the plea deal was announced, her lawyer Mark Geragos said she was "taking responsibility for her actions". The judge is not bound to follow any terms of the plea agreement, but prosecutors have said they will ask for less than the maximum possible sentence.

Perry died aged 54 in October 2023. He had struggled with addiction for years, but released a memoir a year before his death during a period of being clean.

He had been using ketamine through his regular doctor as a legal, but off-label, treatment for depression, but in the weeks before his death had also started to seek more of the drug illegally. Perry bought large amounts of ketamine from Sangha, including 25 vials for $6,000 (£4,464) in cash four days before his death, prosecutors said.

Read more:The Hollywood drugs network exposed by Perry's deathObituary: The one who made everyone laugh Sangha, described by prosecutors as the "Ketamine Queen of North Hollywood.