With a privileged background, Jasveen Sangha chose to traffic drugs “for greed, glamor and influence”
“I’m very selective with people… like, red carpet people.”
For years, Jasveen Sangha, nicknamed the “Ketamine Queen,” ran what prosecutors described in a sentencing memorandum as a “large-scale drug trafficking business from her North Hollywood residence.” She presented herself, according to prosecutors, as a drug dealer who sold exclusively to high society clients.
Now, Sangha will exchange her luxurious lifestyle for prison uniforms after being sentenced this Wednesday to 15 years in federal prison.
His previous lifestyle had its advantages. Prosecutors said Sangha came from a privileged background but chose to deal drugs “not out of financial deprivation, but out of greed, glamor and influence.”
Everything changed on October 28, 2023, when “Friends” actor Matthew Perry was found floating face down in his hot tub at his Pacific Palisades home.
The Los Angeles Medical Examiner’s Office listed the cause of death as “acute effects of ketamine” and subsequent drowning.
Sangha and four other people were charged in August 2024 in connection with Perry’s death.
A year later, Sangha agreed to plead guilty to five federal criminal charges, including providing the ketamine that led to Perry’s death. His guilty plea follows the path of the other four defendants who signed a plea deal with federal prosecutors.
“We will hold drug traffickers accountable”
Shortly after Sangha’s indictment, then-U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California E. Martin Estrada told reporters: “Defendants today are fully aware that the products they sell can result in the death of another person. So if you are in the drug business and despite these risks you continue in it, if you are driven by greed gambling with other people’s lives, know that we will hold you accountable.”
Perry’s case draws parallels to the drug-related death of Mac Miller in September 2018. The rapper died after an accidental overdose of fentanyl, cocaine and ethanol.
Baseball player Tyler Skaggs died in 2019 with high levels of opioids in his body. Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in 2014 with a syringe in his arm and a lethal combination of heroin, cocaine, benzodiazepines and amphetamine in his system.
In each of these celebrity deaths, those who allegedly supplied illicit substances were arrested. Not all were convicted.
Legal experts say that focusing on high-profile cases and related convictions can play a crucial role in deterring illicit drug activities.
“The emphasis on high-profile cases largely stems from the visibility they bring to the problem, helping to illuminate the broader implications of the drug crisis,” Andrew Pickett, a prosecuting attorney in Melbourne, Florida, told CNN in August 2024.
“They serve as a warning both to those who operate outside of the law and to those who facilitate substance abuse,” said Pickett.
The rise in drug-related deaths has forced police forces and prosecutors across the country to adjust their tactics, dedicating more personnel to aggressively combat drug dealers and sellers.
Even the death of a customer is not always an impediment for a trafficker to stop his illicit commercial practices. CNN’s Josh Campbell interviewed an undercover police officer to discuss the issue in 2022. Asked why drug dealers aggressively sell a product with a high potential to kill their customers, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) detective said this is not a primary issue for cartels and those who sell fentanyl to teenagers.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about money, it’s all about profit,” he said. “The drug dealer’s main goal is to get you addicted, and if you don’t die from it, you’re a customer for life.”
This appears to have been the case with Perry.
Estrada, the federal prosecutor, mentioned Perry’s struggle with addiction, which has been extensively documented over the years. The actor published a memoir less than a year before his death, describing his decades of hardship.
“The investigation revealed that in the fall of 2023, Perry relapsed into addiction and these defendants took advantage of the situation to profit,” Estrada said in 2024.
Accountability is not just restricted to high-profile deaths.
In investigating Perry’s death, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said it uncovered a clandestine network of doctors and drug suppliers who authorities said were responsible for distributing ketamine.
The 2019 overdose death of aspiring personal trainer Cody McLaury presented a disturbing link to Perry. Although the two men did not know each other, prosecutors say Sangha had a common connection.
When her brother died, Kimberly McLaury sent a text message to the person she believes sold the drug that killed him: Jasveen Sangha.
After receiving his brother’s cell phone back from police, McLaury found a text message conversation with the alleged drug dealer, indicating that his brother paid for the ketamine through Venmo.
“After his death certificate came out, I texted him back and said, ‘Just so you know, the ketamine you sold my brother was listed as the cause of death,'” he told CNN.
McLaury never received a response. “I just assumed she didn’t care,” he said.
Sangha was not charged in McLaury’s death, but prosecutors asked the judge to take her role in his death into account when handing down the sentence.
“Unfortunately, like Mr. McLaury’s death, Mr. Perry’s death did not alter the defendant’s unlawful conduct,” prosecutors said.
A federal judge decided the fate of the “Queen”
Approximately two and a half years after Perry’s tragic death, Sangha learned of his fate this Wednesday.
Her attorneys, Mark Geragos and Alexandra Kazarian, argued in the sentencing memorandum that their client took responsibility for her “serious” criminal conduct.
“She has been detained since August 15, 2024, and has used that time wisely and productively, participating in programs and supporting others in recovery,” the lawyers wrote.
They said Sangha “is known as a compassionate, selfless and trustworthy person who is dedicated to others in meaningful ways” and asked the judge to impose a sentence on him equivalent to time already served, followed by appropriate conditions of supervised release.
Federal prosecutors, however, argued that the punishment should be more severe. The judge agreed with the recommendation to sentence Sangha to 180 months in prison. After the hearing, Geragos said he was “deeply disappointed” with the sentence.
“There is no way Jasveen could be five times more culpable than the person who injected Matthew Perry with the drug or the doctor who obtained it,” Geragos said.
“She chose profit over people, and her actions caused immense pain to the victims’ families and loved ones,” prosecutors said in their sentencing memorandum.
“[Sangha] had the opportunity to stop after realizing the impact of his trafficking – but simply chose not to.”
CNN’s Josh Campbell, Jason Kravarik, Ashley R. Williams, Taylor Romine and Cheri Mossburg contributed to this report
