Matthew Perry's assistant and doctors are among the five defendants in his ketamine death

Five people have been charged in connection with Matthew Perry's 2023 overdose death, including two doctors and the actor's assistant, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California said Thursday.

An 18-count indictment was released Thursday against Jasveen Sangha, also known as the “Ketamine Queen,” and Dr. Salvador Plasencia, also known as “Dr. P.”, including conspiracy to distribute ketamine, forgery and other drug trafficking charges.

Sangha is said to have supplied doctors, including Plasencia, with ketamine, which then facilitated the sale of the drug to Perry's entourage, the indictment states.

Perry's assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, pleaded guilty on August 7 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death, and Eric Fleming, a man who supplied Iwamasa with ketamine, pleaded guilty on August 8 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. Dr. Mark Chavez has agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.

Martin Estrada, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said during a news conference Thursday that if convicted, Sangha faces life in prison and Plasencia faces up to 120 years in prison.

“These defendants were more concerned with profiting from Mr. Perry than with his well-being,” Estrada said in a statement. “Drug dealers who sell dangerous substances put other people's lives at risk for greed.”

Sangha and Plasencia were arrested Thursday morning, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Both pleaded not guilty at their arraignment in U.S. District Court Thursday afternoon.

Sangha was held without bail and Plasencia's bail was set at $100,000, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Stefan Sacks, a lawyer for Plasencia, told NBC News in an interview Thursday that Perry paid his client for the ketamine treatments.

“I cannot currently answer the exact amount of money charged and prescribed as part of the treatment, but there was definitely a doctor-patient relationship,” Sacks said.

Perry's stepfather, “Dateline” correspondent Keith Morrison, married Perry's mother, Suzanne Perry, in 1981. The Morrison family issued a statement to NBC News on Thursday after learning of the arrest.

“We are and continue to be heartbroken by Matthew's death, but it has helped us to know that law enforcement took his case very seriously. We look forward to seeing justice take its course, and we are grateful for the extraordinary work of the multiple agencies whose agents investigated Matthew's death,” the statement said. “We hope that unscrupulous suppliers of dangerous drugs get the message.”

What are the defendants accused of?

According to the indictment, Plasencia learned in September 2023 that Perry was interested in ketamine. He then allegedly contacted Chavez, who had previously operated a ketamine clinic, to obtain ketamine and sell it to Perry.

In text messages between the two discussing the amount of the charges against Perry, Plasencia wrote, “I wonder how much this idiot is going to pay” and “Let's find out,” the indictment states.

According to the indictment, Plasencia distributed ketamine to Perry and Iwamasa at least seven times in September and October 2023, outside of a doctor's office and without a medical purpose.

According to the indictment, from mid-October Iwamasa also obtained ketamine from Sangha and Fleming.

According to the indictment, Sangha had previously sold ketamine to a man hours before he died of an overdose in 2019. After a family member blamed her for his death, Sangha, according to the indictment, searched Google for “Can ketamine be listed as a cause of death?”

Iwamasa allegedly injected Perry with ketamine at the time of his death on October 28, using instructions and needles given to him by Plasencia. According to the indictment, Plasencia said Perry's ketamine addiction spiraled out of control less than a week before his death.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Fleming admitted in court documents that he distributed the ketamine that killed Perry.

According to the indictment, after reading the news of Perry's death, Sangha sent Fleming a text message that read, “Delete all our messages.”

After Perry's death, law enforcement executed search warrants at Sangha's home and found 79 vials of ketamine, as well as about 3 pounds of pills containing methamphetamine, psilocybin mushrooms, cocaine and prescription drugs that appeared to have been obtained fraudulently, the indictment states.

In February and March, in response to a legal request related to the federal investigation, Plascenia allegedly provided authorities with “altered and falsified medical records that purported to prove that he had a legitimate 'treatment plan' for Perry,” the indictment states.

How did Matthew Perry die?

Perry, 54, was found unconscious in a hot tub at his home in Pacific Palisades, California, on October 28, 2023.

The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office said the “Friends” star died in December 2023 from the acute effects of ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic with hallucinogenic effects.

Los Angeles police told NBC News in May that they were working with the Drug Enforcement Administration to review Perry's case and said the source of the ketamine was part of an “open investigation.” The DEA declined further comment to NBC News at the time.

Perry, who had long spoken openly about his problems with opioid and alcohol addiction, had undergone ketamine therapy to treat depression and anxiety, but his last session took place a week and a half before his death, according to the coroner's office.

The coroner stated in the autopsy report that the high amount of ketamine found in Perry's body could not have come from his last session because the drug's half-life is three to four hours at most.

The coroner's office listed drowning, coronary heart disease and the effects of buprenorphine, a drug used to treat opioid addiction, as factors contributing to Perry's death.

The autopsy report states that Perry was “reportedly clean for 19 months” before his death.

According to the coroner, the cause of death was determined to be an accident.