EXCLUSIVE: Matthew Perry Death Scandal Deepens — Ketamine Dealer's Bankrupt Past Laid Bare as He Waits to Be Sentenced for Involvement in TV Icon's Overdose
Five people have been charged in connection to Matthew Perry's death.
Dec. 12 2025, Published 4:12 p.m. ET
The vile drug dealer who sold the lethal dose of ketamine to the late Friends icon Matthew Perry has a desperate, bankrupt past, RadarOnline.com can exclusively reveal.
Perry died from an overdose and drowning in a hot tub at his home in Pacific Palisades in October 2023.
Inside Perry’s Fatal Ketamine Web
Perry died from an overdose and drowning in a hot tub in 2023.
On the day of Perry's tragic death, he’d been given multiple shots of the drug by his personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, which had been sourced from dealer Erik Fleming.
In total, five people were charged and pleaded guilty to playing a part in Perry’s death – Iwamasa, Fleming, fellow dealer "ketamine queen" Jasveen Sangha, and doctors Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez.
The two medics had obtained the drug from Sangha and Fleming and rinsed Perry for $55,000 profit, charging him a high price of $2,000 for a vial of ketamine when it only cost them $12.
Fleming claimed to be a film producer and director, but the judge described him as nothing better than a "street dealer" after his film career was short-lived.
His only claims to fame were directing Scarlett Johansson in My Brother the Pig in 1999 and his last gig in the industry was 12 years ago – directing the first series of the VH1 show The Surreal Life in 2003.
Bankrupt Past Fueled Drug Dealing
Five people were charged and pleaded guilty to playing a part in Perry’s death.
Now RadarOnline.com can exclusively reveal the financial destitution that led to Fleming turning to peddling hardcore drugs such as ketamine, a strong horse tranquilizer.
In 2013, the 55-year-old filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy with debts of $117,910, and his only real sellable asset was a $16,690 Toyota Prius.
He had barely a cent to his name, clothes worth $1,500, jewelry a further $750, and in his Bank of America account a paltry 100 bucks.
Crushed by Debt and Taxes
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The IRS and State of California were owed over $40,000 in taxes, and Fleming had 14 bank and debt collection agencies chasing him for nearly $88k.
He’d run up a pile of horrific credit card debts, including $14,194 with USAA, $10,060 with Citibank, and $4,012 with Barclays.
For the whole of 2013, he hadn’t earned anything from employment, and court docs stated that his average monthly expenses were $2,435, including $1,250 on rent and $300 on food.
The bankruptcy trustee closed the case three months later as there was no chance of any assets being realized to pay off creditors.
On the day he died, Perry 'had been given multiple shots of the drug by his personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa.
Back in August 2024, Fleming pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.
He is scheduled to be sentenced in January 2026 and faces 25 years behind bars.
