LA’s ‘Ketamine Queen’ has lived the celebrity life. He is now charged in the death of Matthew Perry

On social media, Jasveen Sangha volunteered to be an LA powerhouse – rubbing shoulders with celebrities, wearing trendy clothes and jetting around the world on luxury vacations.

He did Instagram photos with actor Charlie Sheen and Perla Hudson, ex-wife of Guns N’ Roses singer Slash. Social media shows luxury travel to Tokyo and a resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, with pre-flight caviar at the PS travel lounge at Los Angeles International Airport .

To celebrate his 40th birthday, Sangha hosted an upscale Players Ball-themed party at Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, a lounge in Koreatown. Dressed in a head-to-toe pink gown embellished with glitter and feathers, she posed with guests on the makeshift red carpet.

“Eyes are useless when the mind is blind,” he wrote on his Instagram.

It is difficult to know how close Sangha is to the celebrities who appear on his social media. Sheen and Hudson could not be reached for comment.

Federal prosecutors allege that Sangha operated a drug trade so lucrative that clients were known as the “ketamine queen.”

He is now one of five people charged with conspiracy to distribute ketamine to Matthew Perry, who died last fall from the drug’s effects.

Authorities allege in a court filing that Sangha supplied the ketamine the “Friends” actor was injected with on the day of his death — and that he spent years selling drugs out of his North Hollywood home, which was called “Sangha stash house.”

Sangha denied the charge. If convicted, the 41-year-old could face up to life in prison.

Prosecutors filed a motion in court seeking Sangha’s arrest without bail, saying “due to the amount of drugs being sold there are likely to be more victims.” The U.S. attorney’s office declined to answer further questions about the investigation other than to say it is ongoing.

Law enforcement sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said investigators are trying to determine whether each overdose death can be linked to drugs allegedly supplied by the Sangha.

His spokesman did not respond to a request for comment from The Times. But attorney Mark Geragos, whose firm represents Sangha, questioned during an interview with News Nation how authorities know who administered the fatal dose of ketamine to Perry.

“I’ve never seen a microbiologist yet who would be able to say, ‘I’m going to do an autopsy and I’m going to trace back where these drugs came from.’ They can’t do that. It’s a tragedy all around, but just because it’s a tragedy doesn’t mean it’s a crime,” Geragos told the station.

In an affidavit, an agent of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration described Sangha as a “high-level trafficker” who kept “handwritten records that appeared to detail thousands of dollars worth of drug sales. ” In numerous chat threads with customers on hidden messaging systems, he used coded language for drug sales, according to the agent.

He called his dealer a “master chef” or a “scientist,” prosecutors wrote in court papers. His electronic devices included stored videos of him cooking ketamine on the stovetop to turn it into powder, prosecutors said.

Ketamine is often used as a drug but has become popular in the last decade as a treatment for certain mental health diagnoses, including depression and anxiety disorders. The drug, known in the party scene as “Special K,” is at one time in high demand for recreational purposes, said Dr. Wesley Ryan, who runs ketamine as part of his mental health practice in Marina del Rey.

“I’ve definitely seen more people using ketamine now than five or 10 years ago,” he said. .”

Some people snort or inject the drug to have “stimulating” effects that make them feel disconnected from their bodies, experts say. In very high doses, ketamine can make people feel immobilized and evoke hallucinations, but it also has the risk of making breathing difficult and increasing cardiac output.

Prosecutors allege in court filings that Sangha posed as a “famous drug dealer with high-quality goods,” from methamphetamine to magic mushrooms. But it is said that ketamine was his specialty.

Perry, who was addicted to intravenous ketamine, began buying the powerful drug from a Southern California doctor in late September., according to charges and law enforcement officials. Around mid-October, Perry contacted an acquaintance, Erik Fleming, who authorities alleged had obtained ketamine from Sangha. In less than a month, Fleming and Sangha sold about 50 vials of the drug to the actor for $11,000, according to prosecutors.

Sheen’s ex-wife, Brooke Mueller, played a key role in the investigation by providing key information to detectives after Perry’s death that linked Sangha and Fleming to the case, according to law enforcement sources who were not authorized to discuss the matter. research.

Prosecutors say Sangha knew the dangers of ketamine. In August 2019, he allegedly sold the drug to a man, Cody McLaury, before consuming it, according to court papers. One of McLaury’s family members later sent him a message saying that ketamine had caused his death.

After receiving the letter, prosecutors say, he did a Google search: “Can ketamine be listed as a cause of death?”

Perry was found dead in a hot tub at her Los Angeles home on Oct. 28. The authorities later found him dead. acute effects of ketamine.

When Sangha learned of Perry’s death, he immediately tried to distance himself from the situation, according to prosecutors. He used a hidden messaging app to call Fleming to discuss “disassociating himself from selling ketamine” to Perry, the indictment alleges, noting that he followed a text on the app: “Delete all our messages.”

Less than a month later, Sangha went on vacation in Tokyo, where he had afternoon tea and a lychee martini at a luxury hotel overlooking the city.

Sangha was previously arrested in March in a separate drug case where he was accused of participating in a drug-trafficking operation, court records show. During a search of his apartment that month, federal agents and Los Angeles Police Department detectives said they found about 79 containers of ketamine, more than three pounds of orange pills containing methamphetamine. -psilocybin mushrooms, cocaine and prescription drugs. obtained by fraud.

They also found a cash register, a scale covered in drug residue, a sign and a hidden camera system, and a green journal with handwritten notes detailing thousands of dollars in drug sales. drugs., prosecutors wrote in a brief filed in court.

Sangha, who holds citizenship of the United States and the United Kingdom, was released from custody in the case after posting $100,000 bond and surrendering his passport, according to court records.

One of Sangha’s neighbors, who spoke to The Times on condition of anonymity, said agents took about 20 boxes from the modern apartment building during the search.

One neighbor, who only gave her name as Kelly, moved into the building earlier this year and described the tenants as a mix of families and working professionals. In the days after Sangha’s charges were announced, news vans and reporters pulled over to the side of the road, Kelly said.

“Anything involving a celebrity is going to get attention,” Kelly said, adding that the circumstances surrounding the case did not surprise him.

Sangha graduated from Calabasas High School in 2001. He posed for his senior portrait wearing a red turtleneck sweater and a stoic expression. Part of his motto reads: “It’s not what they say about you, it’s what they say.”

He went on to attend UC Irvine, graduating in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in social science, according to the university. On Instagram, he said he received an MBA from Hult International Business School in 2010, though the school did not respond to a Times inquiry for confirmation.

In 2017, she co-owned a nail salon called Stiletto Nail Bar in Studio City. But she and her partner ended up being evicted from the business for not paying their rent, the landlord wrote in court records.

All their equipment and belongings remained inside, according to the local suit filed by the Sangha. The case was later dismissed and settled out of court.

Although he presents himself as an event manager on social media, prosecutors wrote in court records that Sangha has been unemployed since at least 2019. However, they note in court papers, he could afford to pay rent on the apartment his in North Hollywood, which was listed online. more than $3,000 a month.

When authorities began investigating him, he drove a rented Range Rover. Later, he climbed into a 2024 BMW, prosecutors wrote in court.

Clancy Carter, a friend of Sangha’s, told the Daily Mail that the two attended the Golden Globes and Oscars together, and believes Sangha works in marketing and event planning for celebrities. Carter declined to comment further when reached by The Times.

“She always wears the best designer clothes. He has a family that takes care of him,” Carter told the paper. He was never the type of person who needed money.

Times reporters Cary Schneider and Scott Wilson contributed to this report.