Erik Fleming was sentenced on Wednesday to two years in prison in federal court in Los Angeles for his role in the overdose death of Matthew Perry. Fleming, who connected Perry to Jasveen Sangha, had pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.
The sentencing made Fleming the fourth defendant punished among five people who have admitted guilt in prosecutions tied to Perry’s death. Sangha was sentenced last month to 15 years in prison.
Before Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett imposed the sentence, Fleming told the court, “It’s truly a nightmare I can’t wake up from,” and added, “I’m haunted by the mistakes I made.” He also said, “I procured ketamine for Matthew Perry because I wanted the money and because I thought I was doing a favor for a friend.”
Prosecutors said Fleming, a licensed drug addiction counselor, deliberately set out to sell illegal street drugs to a victim whose battle with addiction was public and well documented. Defense lawyers had asked for three months in prison and nine months in a residential drug treatment facility.
Fleming said he “never contemplated the worst possible outcome” and called his conduct a “grievous failure” that would haunt him forever. He delivered 25 vials for $6,000 four days before Perry died, and Kenneth Iwamasa injected Perry from that batch on 28 October 2023. Perry was found dead hours later.
The 56-year-old actor died at his Los Angeles home after receiving ketamine treatments for depression and seeking more of the drug than he could obtain through doctors. A medical examiner said the acute effects of ketamine caused Perry’s death, with drowning listed as a secondary cause. Fleming’s case closes one branch of a wider prosecution that has already put five defendants on the record as guilty, and it leaves Sangha’s 15-year sentence as the harshest punishment yet in the case.
Fleming’s lawyers said he had relapsed after the 2023 death of a beloved stepmother who had rescued him from a traumatic childhood, but the court settled on a prison term that reflects both his cooperation and the fact that he helped place lethal drugs in Perry’s path. With the sentence now imposed, the legal chapter tied to Perry’s final days is largely finished, and the record shows plainly how a chain of personal grief, profit and access ended in a death that could not be undone.
