Two men accused of selling Liam Payne cocaine hours before he plunged from a third-floor Buenos Aires hotel are to face a trial, Argentinian prosecutors have confirmed.
Waiter Braian Nahuel Paiz and former hotel worker Ezequiel David Pereyra have been languishing in prison since the start of January after being charged over the tragic One Direction star’s death on October 16 last year.
Prosecutors confirmed overnight they would be put on the stand after being warned they face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of drug offences.
They also revealed Payne had snorted and smoked the class A-drug in his room at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel ‘up to a few minutes before his death’.
In a lengthy statement, Argentina’s public prosecution service said: ‘At the request of the head of the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office No. 14, Andres Esteban Madrea, the two defendants remanded in custody as part of the court investigation into the circumstances surrounding Liam James Payne’s death, will go on trial accused of the crime of selling drugs.
‘They are Braian Nahuel Paiz, 25, who met Payne while working as a waiter in a restaurant in Puerto Madero, and Ezequiel David Pereyra, 24, who was an employee at the Hotel CasaSur Palermo where the former One Direction member died eight months ago after falling from the balcony of room 310, in a proven state of intoxication with cocaine, alcohol and psychotropic drugs.’
The statement added: ‘The autopsy showed Liam’s death was caused by polytrauma and internal and external haemorrhaging and it was also determined he had ethyl alcohol in a concentration of up to 2.7 grams per litre as well as cocaine, methylecgonine, benzoylecgonine, cocaethylene and sertraline.
‘The forensic medical specialists who performed the autopsy indicated toxicology results showed the dead man consumed cocaine via his nose as well as inhaling it by smoking the drug.
Liam Payne (pictured here attending the Fashion Awards in 2022) died in October 2024 after plunging from the third floor of the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires
Argentinian waiter Braian Nahuel Paiz (pictured) and former hotel worker Ezequiel David Pereyra are to face trial accused of selling drugs to Payne before his death
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‘Consumption took place at least 72 hours prior to his death and up to a few minutes before his death.’
The alleged drug dealers are the only two suspects who will end up on the stand.
Three other men initially charged over his death were told in February the case against them had been dropped.
The tragic singer’s close friend Rogelio Nores, hotel receptionist Esteban Grassi and hotel head of security Gilda Martin were accused of Payne’s manslaughter by a lower court judge before reversing her decision on appeal.
No date has yet been set for the hotel workers’ trial although it is expected to kick off shortly.
Former waiter Paiz, who has previously protested his innocence after being accused of selling Payne cocaine on two separate occasions in the run-up to his death.
He repeated an earlier claim last night from prison that he had shared drugs with the artist but hadn’t committed the serious offence of selling him narcotics.
The 25-year-old had chatted with Payne in a restaurant the former One Direction singer ate at and swapped contact details with him.
Paiz said in an interview with Argentinian media outlet Infobae from his jail cell at a Buenos Aires police station: ‘I don’t know what I’m doing here, I’m a good person.
‘I shared drugs with Liam but I didn’t sell them.’
A photo showing alleged dealer, Paiz, with Liam Payne, allegedly during their first arranged meeting at a hotel. Paiz denies dealing drugs
A drone view shows the balcony on the CasaSur Hotel from where Payne fell to his death. Hotel staff are accused of manslaughter for not keeping him safe before he fell from the balcony on October 16
Liam Payne in his last Snapchat story. Investigators believe he fell unconscious as he tried to climb over a balcony
The tragic singer’s close friend Rogelio Nores (pictured), hotel receptionist Esteban Grassi and hotel head of security Gilda Martin were accused of Payne’s manslaughter by a lower court judge before reversing her decision on appeal
Forensic investigators exit the hotel where the former One Direction singer was found dead after falling from a balcony in Buenos Aires
Describing himself as a drug user who started smoking marihuana as a youngster, he added: ‘All I want to do is start studying again and leave jail to work, like I was doing before.
‘I regret now giving Liam my Instagram because it all spiralled from there.
‘If I hadn’t I’d probably be working today, I’d be studying, I’d be doing videos because before meeting Liam I’d participated in the filming of a videoclip for YouTube for a singer and other videos for TV.
‘I miss the freedom I had, I miss work, I miss my family, my mum and my sisters.’
