Liam Payne’s ‘drug dealer’ speaks for first time: Argentinian waiter probed over One Direction star’s death tells how singer took cocaine with him in hotel room in days before balcony fall

One of three suspects under investigation over Liam Payne’s death has broken his silence by insisting he did nothing wrong and making claims about his relationship with the singer.

Argentinian waiter Braian Nahuel Paiz, who has been identified as the singer’s “dealer” in an ongoing prosecution investigation, admitted to having two hotel encounters with the 31-year-old before his fatal fall on October 16 and confessed to taking drugs.

But he insisted he never supplied Liam with narcotics or took money from him.

The 24-year-old said he spent the night with the former One Direction singer at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires during a second meeting.

Paiz, who appeared on Argentine TV on Saturday, claimed the arranged meeting followed an earlier get-together, preceded by a first meeting at the restaurant in the upscale Puerto Madero neighborhood where he worked, when he claimed he and Liam had contact details as a singer exchanged. had dinner with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy and two other people.

A photo showing Paiz with Liam Payne, reportedly in the days before his death

Liam posted the last message on Snapchat before falling to his death from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires

He spoke in an on-camera interview with journalist Guillermo Panizza, who had to explain to a program presenter in the studio what Paiz meant to say at moments when the young man’s nerves seemed to get the better of him and his story left viewers confused and confused . said Liam used a ‘secret’ Instagram to communicate with Paiz.

The first meeting with Liam is said to have taken place on October 2 at another hotel where the singer was staying prior to his move to CasaSur Palermo after their first restaurant meeting.

Paiz said in an early part of the extraordinary interview, admitting his former home had been searched but claiming he has yet to be questioned by investigators: ‘I never supplied Liam with drugs.

‘Liam’s first contact with me was at work.

‘We exchanged information and saw each other later that evening. It was all normal. He came out of his hotel room to pick me up because I was lost.”

Calling the hotel the “Hyatt in Palermo,” he added, “We got together there and he showed me some of the music he was going to release.

‘I’ve heard people say he was on drugs, but the truth is that when he arrived at the restaurant where I worked, he was already under the influence of drugs and wasn’t really eating anything.

‘There was a moment when he approached me and asked for my contact details. I gave him an Instagram and then he messaged me because he wanted to do drugs even though he had already done drugs.

‘It was October 2. While I was in his room we had some shots of whiskey.”

He continued, after the TV show showed viewers a photo of him and Liam together, which was reportedly taken during their first hotel meeting, with the singer wearing a white top and baseball cap: ‘Our second hotel meeting was in the night from Sunday October. 13.

‘We spent the night together, we did drugs because the truth is something intimate happened.

‘I stayed there all night. I consumed marijuana and he consumed cocaine, the cocaine that is in all the photos that came out after his death.

“He was separating it and cleaning it before he smoked it. I didn’t say anything about it to him because he seemed normal to me.

‘He wasn’t aggressive at all, he behaved very well towards me, he was very sweet. He asked me if I was okay.

‘I have all the messages where we arranged that second meeting. I didn’t delete anything.’

Liam looks at his laptop in the lobby of the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires on Wednesday at 4:26 p.m. The alarm went off after his fall at 5:04 p.m

In a lengthy account of the night’s events, he claims that when he left Liam ‘seemed scared’ and instead of putting his room card in the key slot, he put a handful of papers in it to ‘hold the door open’, he claimed : ‘I didn’t do that’. “I didn’t really understand what was going on, but at the same time I realized something strange was going on.”

Paiz added in a third and final part of his TV interview: “We did drugs together, but I never brought drugs to him or took money.

‘I have messages of him offering me money because apparently he was used to offering money for everything, but I never accepted anything.

‘When I left, he wanted to give me some clothes so I could have a memory of the time I was with him, but I left it behind the TV because I didn’t want to take it with me. They were gray sweatpants and a T-shirt.

‘I told Liam that a best friend of mine wanted to meet him because he was a fan. He said ”yes” and after I went he showed up outside the place where I lived and managed to get halfway into the building and wanted us to go back to his hotel but I told him I couldn’t because I had to go home. work.

‘I was supposed to start at 11.30 am, but I had to be there earlier. That was the last time I saw him. He got into his taxi and left.”

Paiz said he had no idea who the other two suspects are who are officially under investigation, adding: “When I saw the pictures of the inside of Liam’s hotel room, I didn’t understand it.

‘The packet of Dove soap was there when I was at the hotel, but I didn’t understand what it was for, nor the candles or the glass of water.’

Last weekend it emerged that Argentinian police investigating Liam’s death are still looking for the singer’s missing Rolex watch.

Liam arrives at the UK premiere of ‘All Of Those Voices’ at Cineworld Leicester Square on March 16, 2023

A drone shot shows the balcony of the Casa Sur Hotel where Payne fell to his death

Paiz was not asked about the expensive timepiece during his interview.

The restaurant worker, who was reportedly fired from his job following his involvement in the ongoing criminal investigation, is the second person linked to Liam to speak out.

Liam’s close friend Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores protested his innocence after he was named locally last week as one of the trio under investigation.

In response to reports identifying him as one of the suspects linked to the drug charges and accusations that he abandoned Liam before his death, businessman Nores, who was previously described as the singer’s manager, said in a statement: “I never let Liam down. I went to his hotel three times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened.

“There were more than 15 people in the hotel lobby talking and joking with him when I left. I never could have imagined something like this would happen.

“I gave my statement to the prosecutor as a witness on October 17 and I have not spoken to any police officer or prosecutor since then.

‘I wasn’t Liam’s manager. He was just my dear friend.”

He added: ‘I am truly heartbroken by this tragedy and I miss my friend every day.’

The third suspect, who has yet to speak publicly, is named locally as a hotel worker named Ezequiel David Pereyra, 21.

Prosecutors said in their lengthy statement last Thursday that three men they did not name are now being formally investigated on suspicion of abandoning a person who subsequently died and supplying and facilitating drugs.

A large crowd gathers in London to honor the former One Direction star

The statement described someone as the person who “routinely accompanied Liam during his stay in Buenos Aires.”

Tests showed the 31-year-old was bingeing on alcohol and cocaine before his death and also had traces of an antidepressant in his system.

Prosecutors also made it clear that the idea that Liam had committed suicide had been ruled out, saying he was in a state of “semi- or total unconsciousness” when he fell to his death while “not knowing what he was doing.”

About the hotel worker and the alleged ‘drug dealer’ they said: ‘The second suspect is a hotel worker assigned to respond to two proven deliveries of cocaine to Liam Payne during the time he was at the hotel.

‘The third is also a drug dealer who is under investigation on suspicion of a further two clearly proven deliveries of cocaine at two different times on October 14.’

Liam’s father Geoff flew to Argentina two days after his son died and returned to Britain with his body last Thursday to finalize funeral arrangements after a second visit to the makeshift shrine erected by fans outside the singer’s hotel set up.

The funeral is expected to take place in Liam’s hometown of Wolverhampton.