Indian American Newsmakers of 2025: A Year of Unprecedented Prominence and Historic Breakthroughs

The year 2025 marked a historic watershed for Indian and South Asian Americans, who reached positions of unprecedented influence across every sector of American life. From the FBI directorship to the New York City mayor’s office, from TIME’s CEO of the Year to the first Indian model to open a Chanel show, from groundbreaking bipartisan legislation to MacArthur “Genius Grant” fellows, from congressional victories to high-profile criminal cases—2025 witnessed South Asian Americans shaping national discourse, policy, culture, and commerce at levels never before seen.

This report examines some of the newsmakers who defined 2025, both for their extraordinary achievements and their notable controversies.

Usha Vance: Second Lady of the United States

The most talked about and prominent Indian American this year has been Usha Bala Vance, the Second Lady of the United States. She has been under constant media scrutiny, including speculations about her marriage.

Usha Vance made history on January 20, 2025, as the first Indian American, first Telugu, and first Hindu Second Lady when her husband JD Vance was inaugurated as Vice President. According to CNN, the 39-year-old former Supreme Court clerk left her successful legal career at Munger, Tolles & Olson to assume the ceremonial role.

Born to Telugu Brahmin parents who immigrated from Andhra Pradesh in the 1980s, Usha grew up in San Diego. Her father, a mechanical engineer from IIT Madras, works as a lecturer at San Diego State University, while her mother serves as a molecular biologist and provost at UC San Diego.

Fox News reported in December 2025 that Usha Vance successfully secured a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act limiting cellphone use in Department of Defense Education Activity classrooms. Her spokesperson stated she was “proud to support efforts to ensure the National Defense Authorization Act included provisions that limit cellphone use in DoDEA classrooms, recognizing that reducing distractions is essential for young learners.”

According to White House announcements, Usha has focused on early childhood literacy and education, launching a Summer Reading Challenge in 2025. She accompanied Vice President Vance on diplomatic trips to France and Germany in February 2025 and led the U.S. presidential delegation to the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Turin, Italy in March 2025. In November 2025, she made her first joint appearance with First Lady Melania Trump at Camp Lejeune, where they met with military families.

Historic Appointments & Controversial Leadership

Kash Patel: FBI Director

Kashyap “Kash” Patel made history as the first person of South Asian descent to lead the FBI when he was sworn in as the ninth Director on February 20, 2025, according to the FBI’s official website. Born in Garden City, New York, to parents of Gujarati Indian descent whose family had been expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin in 1972, Patel’s tenure has been marked by both sweeping organizational changes and persistent controversy.

According to NPR reporting from June 2025, Patel transferred approximately 1,500 FBI employees—about 10% of the D.C. workforce—out of headquarters to field offices nationwide. NPR quoted Patel explaining: “We need their expertise in your states, in your counties, in your towns because the threat to this country in 2025 is everywhere, and we cannot quarterback that mission from Washington, D.C., alone.”

The Washington Post and NPR have reported on several controversial aspects of Patel’s leadership, including providing security details for his girlfriend, country music singer Alexis Wilkins, and using Bureau jets for personal travel to entertainment events. NPR reported that Patel appointed Dan Bongino, a former podcaster with no prior FBI experience, as Deputy Director, though Bongino announced his resignation in December 2025 after serving less than a year.

Vivek Ramaswamy: Brief DOGE Tenure

Entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s role as co-leader of the Department of Government Efficiency alongside Elon Musk lasted only days. According to NBC News and CBS News reporting from January 20, 2025, Ramaswamy left DOGE on the day of Trump’s inauguration to prepare for an Ohio gubernatorial campaign.

CBS News reported that sources described friction between Ramaswamy and incoming DOGE staff, with one person close to Trump stating that Ramaswamy had “worn out his welcome.” Fortune magazine noted that Ramaswamy’s departure came after controversial social media posts in mid-December 2024 criticizing native-born Americans for prizing mediocrity over excellence, which alienated portions of the MAGA base.

In his first post-DOGE interview with Fox News, Ramaswamy denied having a falling-out with Musk, stating they had “different—and complementary—approaches.” He indicated plans to run for Ohio governor in the November 2026 election.

Harmeet Dhillon: Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights

Harmeet K. Dhillon, born in Chandigarh, India, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 3, 2025, and sworn in as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights on April 7, 2025, according to the Department of Justice website.

NBC News reported in December 2024 that Dhillon’s nomination was controversial, with The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights expressing concerns about her “fidelity to Trump.” During her confirmation hearing, Dhillon stated regarding Trump: “In all of those years, in multiple cases, in multiple jurisdictions, the president has never asked me to do anything that I found to be objectionable, immoral, unlawful, or illegal.”

According to a December 2025 report from Democracy Docket, Dhillon has pursued an aggressive federal campaign to force states to turn over voter rolls. In a video update shared in December 2025, Dhillon stated the DOJ had contacted all 50 states, sued 14 states, and identified “260k dead registrants” and “thousands of non-citizens” on voter rolls. Al Jazeera reported that more than 200 former DOJ Civil Rights Division employees signed an open letter in December 2025 decrying the “destruction” of the division under Trump.

Historic Electoral Victories, Expanded Congressional Presence

Ghazala Hashmi: First Muslim Woman Elected to Statewide Office in U.S.

In one of the most historic victories of 2025, Democrat Ghazala Hashmi won the Virginia lieutenant governor’s race on November 4, 2025, becoming the nation’s first Muslim woman elected to statewide office.

Hashmi, 61, defeated Republican John Reid, a former conservative talk show host who was the state’s first gay statewide nominee. Hashmi arrived in the United States as a child from Hyderabad, India, with her family to join her father, who was teaching at Georgia Southern University in Savannah.

According to Axios, Hashmi first made history in 2019 when she flipped a long-held Republican seat, helped Democrats regain control of the Virginia legislature, and became the first Muslim elected to the Virginia Senate. As state senator representing Chesterfield and parts of South Richmond, Hashmi focused on health and education and led bills to establish the right to contraception.

Hashmi defeated five primary challengers in June 2025, narrowly winning the Democratic nomination with 28% of the vote. She campaigned on promises to stand up to the Trump administration. CNN reported that she largely ignored her opponent’s regular attacks and accusations that she was ducking debates with him, prompting Reid to debate an AI representation of her in October.

According to CNN, as lieutenant governor, Hashmi will preside over the state Senate and be able to break ties in the chamber. The role could be crucial because with her seat vacant, Democrats will have a narrow 20-19 advantage. Axios noted that Hashmi’s win also marks the first time in nearly 25 years that Virginians have elected a Richmond-area candidate to the lieutenant governor job—the last being Tim Kaine in 2001.

Zohran Mamdani: New York City Mayor-Elect

The most stunning political victory of 2025 was Zohran Kwame Mamdani’s election as Mayor of New York City. Born in Kampala, Uganda, to postcolonialist academic Mahmood Mamdani and filmmaker Mira Nair, the 34-year-old Democratic Socialist defeated former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary before winning the general election with 50.78% of the vote on November 4, 2025.

Mamdani is scheduled to become New York City’s first Muslim and first South Asian mayor, as well as its youngest since 1892, when he takes office on January 1, 2026.

City & State New York described Mamdani’s primary victory over Cuomo as changing the course of the year. Mamdani campaigned on an affordability platform supporting fare-free city buses, universal public childcare, city-owned grocery stores, a rent freeze on rent-stabilized units, and a $30 minimum wage by 2030.

According to Gothamist reporting from December 2025, Mamdani has signaled support for stricter corporate regulation. His transition website announced more than 400 appointments to help his incoming administration.

The Team Behind the Victory:

Mamdani’s historic victory was powered by a diverse team of South Asian and other professionals. For the general election, Mamdani brought on Maya Handa as his new campaign manager. Handa had previously served in the same role on state Sen. Zellnor Myrie’s Democratic primary campaign before joining Mamdani’s team in July 2025.

Perhaps the most visible aspect of Mamdani’s campaign was its groundbreaking visual identity. According to Fast Company, The Hollywood Reporter, and Gothamist, Aneesh Bhoopathy, a South Indian American designer and creative at the Philadelphia-based cooperative Forge, hand-drew Mamdani’s distinctive wordmark inspired by Bollywood posters, MetroCard yellow, taxi cab orange, and bodega signage. Bhoopathy told The Hollywood Reporter: “Zohran mentioned Bollywood posters as an inspiration and sent a couple over…We weren’t going to shy away from looking different from the standard campaign font. And playing into the identity of being South Asian.”

Fortune reported Bhoopathy saying: “None of the boldness and vibrancy here works without a candidate that is as energetic and full of life as the city that raised him.” Gothamist noted that Bhoopathy “is honestly a dream client,” with Mamdani’s wife, illustrator Rama Duwaji, even contributing the idea to make the ‘R’ in Zohran more distinctive with a flourish at the end.

Aftab Pureval: Cincinnati Mayor Re-elected

Aftab Karma Singh Pureval, the son of a Punjabi father and Tibetan refugee mother, won re-election as Cincinnati mayor in a landslide on November 5, 2025. According to PBS, Pureval defeated Republican Cory Bowman—Vice President JD Vance’s half-brother—by 78.2% to 21.8%.

In his November 2025 State of the City address, Pureval declared that “the state of the city is strong” and outlined priorities including developmental growth, tackling the housing crisis, and improving public safety. According to WCPO reporting, Pureval said when he took office, he inherited a “staggering deferred capital maintenance bill” but that investments from the Railway Trust have allowed the city to dedicate $60 million to infrastructure improvements.

Ro Khanna: Bipartisan Champion of Epstein Files Transparency

Perhaps no member of Congress demonstrated greater bipartisan leadership in 2025 than Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA-17), who co-authored the Epstein Files Transparency Act with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and successfully navigated it through a deeply divided Congress.

According to NBC News, on November 18, 2025, the House passed the legislation by an overwhelming 427-1 vote, followed by unanimous Senate passage the same day. The bill requires the Justice Department to release all unclassified records related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein within 30 days.

NBC News reported that the bipartisan duo “co-authored the legislation and successfully forced the vote on the House floor, despite leadership’s objections.” In his statement following passage, Khanna declared: “This fight isn’t about politics –– it’s about humanity. It’s about justice for the courageous survivors and taking on the Epstein class who have been shielded for too long.”

According to NPR, Khanna told Morning Edition in September 2025 that releasing the files is “a way to bring the country together,” stating: “A nation that cannot hold accountable rich and powerful men who have abused young girls is a nation that has lost its moral and spiritual bearings.”

NBC News characterized Khanna’s achievement as “cracking the MAGA coalition,” noting that he attracted Republican co-sponsors including MAGA figures like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Nancy Mace, and Lauren Boebert despite months of opposition from President Trump. The California Democrat, who is considering a White House run, told NBC News his unlikely victory includes “the building blocks of a populist vision that can unite the left and right.”

According to Democracy Now!, Khanna stated that the FBI holds 300 gigabytes of Epstein-related data but had released less than one gigabyte, with 97% of that already public. PBS reported that Khanna and Massie held an emotional news conference with more than a dozen Epstein survivors, with Khanna stating: “You had Jeffrey Epstein, who literally set up an island of rape — a rape island — and you had rich and powerful men, some of the richest people in the world, who thought that they could hang out with bankers, buy off politicians and abuse and rape America’s girls with no consequence.”

The “Samosa Caucus” Grows to Six

On January 4, 2025, six Indian Americans were sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives, marking the largest-ever representation of Indian Americans in Congress.This expanded “Samosa Caucus”—a term coined by Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi—now includes Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA-10).

The newest member made history as the first Indian American elected to Congress from Virginia and the East Coast. A former Virginia State Senator and White House advisor under President Obama, he defeated Republican Mike Clancy. 

Business, Tech and Entertainment Leadership

Neal Mohan: TIME’s 2025 CEO of the Year

Perhaps the most celebrated Indian American business leader of 2025 was Neal Mohan, who was named TIME magazine’s CEO of the Year in December 2025. Born in Lafayette, Indiana, on July 14, 1973, to parents from Lucknow, Mohan has served as YouTube’s CEO since February 2023.

According to TIME, Mohan oversees a platform that generates more than $36 billion in advertising revenue and $14 billion from subscriptions, with both numbers shooting up in 2025—15% more advertising dollars in the first three quarters and 25% more subscribers to YouTube Music and Premium. TIME stated: “In many ways YouTube is creating the cultural diet that the globe is beginning to subsist on. Mohan is the farmer; what he cultivates will be what we eat.”

Mohan, who moved to India at age 12 and studied at St. Francis’ College in Lucknow before returning to the U.S., has steered YouTube through expansion into live events and sports. The platform now receives more than 500 hours of new footage per minute and attracts more than two billion people daily.

Mohan told TIME his father came to the U.S. “to do his PhD at Purdue as a civil engineer back in the ’60s with, you know, 25 bucks in his pocket.” Mohan said: “The entire dynamics of the entire media industry are changing before our eyes. It’s incredibly disruptive, and if you don’t adapt, you can be left by the wayside.”

According to Net Influencer, YouTube’s NFL Sunday Ticket deal demonstrates Mohan’s strategic thinking—the company pays $2 billion annually for rights. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated of Mohan: “He understands what he’s trying to build. He’s got a deep understanding of the media landscape and where YouTube fits and where content can help him advance his strategies.”

Bela Bajaria: Netflix Chief Content Officer

Bela Bajaria continued to cement her position as one of the most powerful executives in global entertainment as Netflix’s Chief Content Officer. According to Netflix’s investor relations website, Bajaria oversees all television and film content in all languages, managing an annual content budget of approximately $18 billion.

Forbes included Bajaria in its 2025 ranking of the 100 most powerful women in the world, noting that she could become Hollywood’s most powerful executive if Netflix’s proposed $72 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery receives regulatory approval. ET Edge Insights reported that Netflix now commissions programming in more than 50 languages across over 190 countries.

Deadline reported in July 2025 that Netflix received 120 Emmy nominations from 44 titles across 14 genres, with Bajaria telling the outlet: “We’re very pleased because they come from 44 titles and 14 different program categories.”

According to CNBC reporting from May 2025, Bajaria spoke at the 2025 Changemakers Summit about being publicly fired from her role as President of Universal Television, calling it “the greatest learning lesson.” She stated: “In retrospect I am so grateful that it happened. I’m not scared of getting fired. It’s very liberating, actually.”

Literature, Fashion and Modeling: Historic Runway Breakthroughs

Literary Triumph

Kiran Desai: Booker Prize Shortlist & Literary Return

After nearly 20 years, Kiran Desai returned with her most ambitious novel yet, “The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny,” which was shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize. According to The Booker Prizes website, Desai’s third novel is a nearly 700-page epic spanning continents, generations, and the complexities of modern identity.

The novel tells the story of Sonia, an aspiring novelist who recently completed her studies in Vermont, and Sunny, a struggling journalist in New York City. The narrative takes place mostly between 1996 and 2002, following both Indian immigrants to the United States who have a chance encounter on a train in India that leads to romance.

The Booker Prizes judges described the novel as “vast and immersive,” stating that it “enfolds a magical realist fable within a social novel within a love story.” According to the judges’ statement: “We loved the way in which no detail, large or small, seems to escape Desai’s attention, every character (in a huge cast) feels fully realized, and the writing moves with consummate fluency between an array of modes: philosophical, comic, earnest, emotional, and uncanny.”

According to The Booker Prizes, should Desai win in 2025, she would become only the fifth author to win the prize twice, joining Margaret Atwood, Peter Carey, J.M. Coetzee and Hilary Mantel. Her 2006 Booker Prize-winning novel “The Inheritance of Loss” also won the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award.

The Washington Post called the novel “marvelous” and “a magnificent saga,” describing it as “as much question as it is narrative—an exploration of the way perspective alters perception, of the way reality itself may become malleable, shaped by dreams, stories and fears.” NPR praised the novel in October 2025, stating: “It took Kiran Desai nearly 20 years to write her new novel, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny. I mean this as a sincere tribute when I say I’m amazed it only took her that long.”

Born in New Delhi, Desai moved to England with her family at age 15 before settling in the United States, where she currently lives in New York. According to The Booker Prizes, Desai is the daughter of acclaimed author Anita Desai, who was shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times. The Economic Times named Kiran Desai one of 20 most influential global Indian women in 2015.

Bhavitha Mandava: First Indian Model to Open Chanel Show

The fashion moment of 2025 belonged to Bhavitha Mandava, a 25-year-old from Hyderabad who made history on December 2, 2025, as the first Indian model to open a Chanel show. Mandava opened Chanel’s Métiers d’Art 2026 collection in an abandoned Bowery subway station in New York—the very same underground setting where she had been discovered just over a year earlier.

According to NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Mandava was pursuing a master’s degree in Integrated Design and Media at New York University when she was scouted in a subway station just two weeks before the Spring/Summer 2025 shows. She initially hesitated but later decided to accept the modeling offer to help pay her student debt.

According to models.com and fashion influencer Viren H Shah, Mandava was cast by Matthieu Blazy, then creative director at Bottega Veneta. She made her runway debut as a Bottega Veneta exclusive and appeared in the brand’s campaign. When Blazy moved to Chanel as creative director, he brought Mandava with him.

On December 2, 2025, Mandava descended the stairs of the Bowery Station wearing a beige quarter-zip with blue jeans, paired with white heels with black tips and a brown bag—a look deliberately echoing the casual outfit she wore the day she was discovered. According to Marie Claire Australia, the show represented “a poetic symmetry to her rise.”

Mandava completed a Bachelor of Architecture degree at Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in Hyderabad before moving to the U.S. for graduate studies. NYU reported that to manage her living expenses, Mandava worked as a design lab coordinator at NYU’s MakerSpace, where supervisors became like family, bringing her Indian snacks when she struggled to adjust to American food.

Pritika Swarup: Fashion Icon, Beauty Entrepreneur & Philanthropist

Pritika Swarup, a 28-year-old international fashion model, Ivy League graduate, and founder of Prakti Beauty, solidified her position as one of fashion’s most influential figures in 2025. According to Milken Institute, Swarup received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Harvard University in November 2023, the Global Innovator Award from FounderMade in May 2024, and Operation Smile’s Changemaker Award recognizing her dedication to improving lives.

Swarup was discovered at age 16 during a family trip to Disney World. Within a year, she had moved to New York City and signed with IMG Models, one of the world’s top modeling agencies. Despite her rapid rise in fashion, Swarup enrolled at Columbia University, graduating with honors in financial economics while continuing to walk runways internationally.

In May 2025, Swarup attended the Cannes Film Festival Closing Ceremony for the second time, wearing a Zuhair Murad gown. She told GRAZIA: “My Indian heritage is a constant source of strength and inspiration… On an international stage like Cannes, I see it as an opportunity to share my own narrative.”

Swarup founded Prakti Beauty in 2021, an Ayurvedic-inspired skincare brand with the help of mentor and former Estée Lauder executive Daria Myers. WWD reported that in 2025, Prakti expanded into Bloomingdale’s, adding to its portfolio that already included Amazon, Revolve, Goop, and Credo. Swarup told WWD: “We really want to meet our customer at every touch point.”

HerMoney reported that in August 2025, Swarup appeared on the How She Does It podcast, discussing balancing her modeling career with entrepreneurship. She has also worked with brands like Ralph Lauren, Fenty Beauty, and Athleta, amassing 1.2 million Instagram followers.

According to Milken Institute, The New York Post named Swarup the “World’s Most Fabulous Financier,” and L’Officiel USA named her “Fashion It Girl.” New Beauty named her “Beauty’s Next Boss” in October 2024.

MacArthur Fellows & Rhodes Scholars

MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellows

Two Indian Americans were named 2025 MacArthur Fellows in October 2025, each receiving $800,000 over five years. According to News India Times:

Nabarun Dasgupta: An epidemiologist and harm reduction advocate creating practical programs to mitigate harms from drug use, particularly opioid overdose deaths. Dasgupta combines scientific studies with community engagement to improve the wellbeing of people who use drugs and people living with debilitating pain. Much of Dasgupta’s work focuses on broadening access to naloxone, which reverses opioid overdose. A graduate of Princeton University with an MPH from Yale (2003) and PhD from UNC (2013), Dasgupta has been a senior scientist at UNC’s Injury Prevention Research Center since 2013, where he directs the Opioid Data Lab.

Teresa Puthussery: A neurobiologist and optometrist exploring how neural circuits of the retina encode visual information for the primate brain. Her research into retinal ganglion cells is filling a long-standing gap in knowledge about the human visual system. Puthussery received a BS (2000), PhD (2005), and postgraduate degree (2006) from the University of Melbourne, Australia. She is an associate professor at UC Berkeley’s Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry and Vision Science.

Rhodes Scholars

Five Indian-origin students were among the 32 Americans selected as Rhodes Scholars for 2025, representing 15.63% of U.S. Scholars. According to News India Times, these students were chosen from 3,000 applicants:

Aneesh Muppidi (Schenectady, NY, from Harvard University): A senior majoring in Computer Science and Neuroscience who has conducted research at Harvard’s Computational Robotics Lab and MIT’s Fiete Lab. Muppidi’s scholarship informs his work on AI policy at the OSTP at the White House. He served as President of the Harvard Computational Neuroscience Undergraduate Society and Co-President of the Hindu Students Association.

Ayush Noori (Bellevue, Washington, from Harvard University): Noori is completing degrees in computer science and neuroscience at Harvard. His research harnesses artificial intelligence to analyze biomedical data, focusing on treatment predictions for conditions like bipolar disorder and Parkinson’s disease.

Anushka Nair, Om Gandhi, and a fifth scholar from the New York-North district were also named 2025 Rhodes Scholars.

Additionally, four Indian Americans were named 2026 Rhodes Scholars in November 2025: Aruna B. Balasubramanian, Shubham Bansal, Anil A.S. Cacodcar, and Anirvin Puttur.

Social Media Influencers

The Indian American influencer landscape expanded significantly in 2025, with creators spanning beauty, lifestyle, food, comedy, and cultural commentary. According to Feedspot’s 2025 ranking of top Indian American influencers:

Zarna Garg (1.8M Instagram followers): Comedian and author of the NYT bestseller “This American Woman,” Garg hosts shows including “A Nice Indian Boy” and “One in a Billion” on Hulu.

Aditya Madiraju (2.8M Instagram followers): Listed as a makeup expert and Sephora Squad Mentor 2025.

Kripa Patel Joshi (1.3M Instagram followers): Based in New York/New Jersey.

Shivani Bafna (697.1K Instagram followers): Founder of Marigold Diaries and Corefelt, based in Miami.

According to AInfluencer’s 2025 analysis, notable Indian American content creators include:

Akaash Singh: A comedian, podcaster, and content creator known for sharp humor and social commentary. He gained popularity through stand-up specials and co-hosting the Flagrant podcast alongside Andrew Schulz.

The landscape also includes numerous micro and macro influencers focusing on specific niches. Feedspot’s 2025 rankings include lifestyle creators like KP Fitstyle (107.3K followers, Austin/LA-based), Gujarani Creations (51.1K followers, Atlanta-based focusing on lifestyle and family), and Julien Shah (48.8K followers, covering travel, fashion, and lifestyle).

High-Profile Crime

Jasveen Sangha: “Ketamine Queen”

The most notorious Indian American involved in criminal proceedings in 2025 was Jasveen Sangha, dubbed the “Ketamine Queen” of Los Angeles, who pleaded guilty in September 2025 to selling the ketamine that killed “Friends” actor Matthew Perry.

According to NBC News and the Department of Justice, Sangha, a 42-year-old dual citizen of the United States and United Kingdom, pleaded guilty on September 3, 2025, to five federal charges: one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury.

The DOJ’s August 2025 press release stated that Sangha and Erik Fleming sold Perry 51 vials of ketamine in October 2023, which were provided to Kenneth Iwamasa, Perry’s live-in personal assistant. On October 28, 2023, Iwamasa injected Perry with at least three shots of Sangha’s ketamine, causing Perry’s death. After learning from news reports of Perry’s death, Sangha called Fleming on the encrypted messaging app Signal and instructed him to “delete all our messages,” according to prosecutors.

CNN reported that Sangha’s attorney Mark Geragos stated she was “taking responsibility for her actions” and that “she feels horrible about all of this.” Sangha also admitted to selling four vials of ketamine to Cody McLaury in August 2019, with McLaury dying from an overdose hours later. Sangha is waiting to be sentenced.

The story, conceptualized and edited by American Kahani’s News Desk, was aggregated by AI from several news sources.