3 charged in connection with Liam Payne’s death, prosecutor says

• Liam Payne, 31, died on October 16 after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina.
• The local prosecutor’s office said Thursday that it had charged three people in connection with his death.
• The defendants include a hotel employee and a suspected drug dealer.

Three people have been charged in connection with the death of former One Direction member Liam Payne, Argentine prosecutors said Thursday.

Payne, 31, died on October 16 after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

On Thursday, Argentina’s Penitentiary and Penitentiary Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement that three suspects were charged with “abandonment of a person resulting in death” and “supply and facilitation of the consumption of narcotic drugs.”

None of the suspects were named by prosecutors, although prosecutors said a hotel employee and a suspected drug dealer were among the defendants.

According to the statement, Payne’s toxicology analysis revealed that he had “traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescribed antidepressant in his system.”

Payne’s body was returned to his father, Geoff Payne, last week, prosecutors said.

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Representatives for Payne did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Payne was a member of the British boy band One Direction. The group, founded by music mogul Simon Cowell in 2010, announced they would be taking an extended break in 2015.

Payne later launched a solo career. His former bandmates, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis TomlinsonAnd Niall Horan, have also released music outside of the group.

But the band’s members – with the exception of Styles – struggled to recapture One Direction’s success. The group sold over 70 million records worldwide.

“We are completely devastated by the news of Liam’s death. As time goes on and everyone is able, there will be more to say,” the surviving members of One Direction said in a joint statement last month.

“But for now, we will take some time to grieve and process the loss of our brother, whom we loved very much,” the statement said.