Liam Payne: 5 charged in connection with One Direction singer’s death

The investigation into Liam Payne’s death has led to five people being charged by authorities in Argentina.

Two employees of the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires — hotel manager Gilda Martin and receptionist Esteban Grassi — as well as the former One Direction singer’s friend Rogelio “Roger” Nores have been charged with manslaughter, according to the Argentina prosecutor’s office. The charges carry a sentence of one to five years in prison.

Ezequiel Pereyra, a hotel employee, and Braian Paiz, a waiter at a local restaurant, have been charged with supplying drugs to the British performer. The two were remanded in custody, according to the press release. If convicted, they face four to 15 years in prison.

Judge Laura Bruniard said the five people contributed to “creating a risk that resulted in Payne’s death.”

Forensic experts determined it’s likely Payne was trying to climb from his room’s third-floor balcony on Oct. 16 and became unconscious, leading to the fall, according to the press release.

The allegations against the five

Hotel employee Pereyra is accused of being paid to deliver cocaine to Payne on Oct. 15 at 3:25 a.m. and Oct. 16 between 3:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. Prosecutors also claim Payne sent a car to Pereyra’s home to “bring him more narcotics.”

Waiter Paiz, who Payne met at a restaurant in the Puerto Madero neighborhood, was allegedly paid to deliver cocaine to the star on Oct. 14, at 3:24 a.m. — and he remained in Payne’s room until 8:15 a.m. He allegedly left, procured more cocaine, and delivered it to Payne at 10:03 a.m. Payne also went to Paiz’s home via taxi and then returned to the hotel.

Payne’s friend and travel companion Nores is accused of manslaughter for allegedly failing to fulfill “his duties of care, assistance and aid” to the singer by “abandoning him to his fate, knowing that he was incapable of caring for himself [due to] multiple previous addictions — to alcohol and cocaine.” Prosecutors claim Nores had “full knowledge” of Payne’s “intoxication, vulnerability and helplessness.”

The hotel reception manager Grassi was also present in the lobby at that time, according to prosecutors. Instead of keeping Payne safe, they allege that Grassi “led a group of three people who dragged Payne to his room moments before his death” instead of keeping him in a safe place and waiting until he received medical care. been kept in an area without sources of danger — like a balcony — and watched until medical care was provided for him, prosecutors said.

The hotel reception manager Grassi was also present in the lobby at that time, according to prosecutors. Instead of keeping Payne safe, they allege, Grassi “led a group of three people who dragged Payne to his room moments before his death” instead of keeping him in a safe place and waiting until he received medical care.

The judge’s hypothesis in Payne’s death

According to the press release, Bruniard analyzed evidence collected by the prosecution and developed a hypothesis of what happened.

Bruniard wrote in the ruling that testimonies gathered by the prosecutor showed that Payne had a history of addiction. His autopsy, which determined that his “death was caused by multiple trauma and internal and external bleeding,” and showed large quantities of cocaine and alcohol in his system.

“On October 16, moments before 5 p.m., Payne was unable to care for himself,” the judge noted, pointing to hotel security footage from the hotel lobby that showed him being carried by three people to his room. He died minutes after being taken to his room, falling from the balcony to the restaurant’s patio.

“The way he was being handled shows a state of vulnerability,” the judge said, and, while the hotel employees “did not act maliciously,” “bringing Payne up in that state” to his room was “creating a legally disapproved risk to his life.”

In the ruling, Bruniard also claimed in her hypothesis that Payne did not faint when he fell, but that, in his state of intoxication, he tried to leave the room via the balcony and fell.

“I maintain that [Payne] tried to leave from the balcony of the place where he was left because the forensic experts noted that he did not lose his balance,” Bruniard wrote, citing various investigation reports. “This is how the fall occurred.”

The judge wrote in the ruling that charges were brought against Nores, who was assisting Payne during his stay, because he was seen exiting the hotel 50 minutes before Payne died when the singer’s “state of vulnerability was evident.” The judge said Nores should have consulted a doctor and should not have trusted that the hotel staff would provide care for Payne.

What the defendants have said

Nores detailed Payne’s alleged drug abuse — including hospitalizations, multiple trips to rehab and two resuscitations in just the past two years — in a previous filing in the investigation.

“I was a friend who loved him very much, who helped him selflessly in everything I could, who spent my own money to help him, and even then it was not enough,” Nores wrote. “I do not consider that I deserve the accusation that is being leveled at me.”

He also said in a statement, “I never abandoned Liam, I went to his hotel three times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened. There were over 15 people at the hotel lobby chatting and joking with him when I left. I could have never imagined something like this would happen.”

Paiz said in an interview with TMZ that while he used cocaine and partied with Payne, he didn’t sell him drugs.

“They say I’m the dealer, that I carried drugs, that I sold them,” he told the outlet. “And the truth is that no, no I didn’t sell them.”

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