Liam Payne’s alleged dealer denies supplying drugs to the singer

An Argentine waiter accused of supplying Liam Payne with the drugs that led to his fatal fall from a Buenos Aires hotel balcony is speaking out for the first time.

Braian Nahuel Paiz, 24, is one of three suspects charged last week for their alleged involvement in the former One Direction member’s death on October 16. The charges included abandonment of a person resulting in death and supply and distribution of narcotics, according to a Nov. 7 report opinion by the Argentine Prosecutor’s Office for Penal and Correctional Institutions.

But while Paiz in a Friday interview with Telephone notifications Although he admitted to having two hotel meetings with Payne before the singer’s death, he insisted he never supplied the 31-year-old with drugs or accepted money from him.

Paiz first met Payne on October 2, he told the outlet, when the singer was dining with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy and two others at the Puerto Madero restaurant where Paiz worked. Payne appeared to be under the influence of drugs at the time and had not eaten, Paiz said.

At the restaurant, Paiz continued, Payne asked him for his contact information: “I gave him my Instagram and then he sent me messages because he wanted to do drugs, I think he was going to a concert or something.”

That evening, Payne attended his former bandmate Niall Horan’s show at the Movistar Arena, where the pair reportedly made amends after being out of touch for some time.

“We exchanged details and saw each other later that night. Everything was normal,” Paiz said, adding that Payne picked him up from down at the Park Hyatt Palermo after he got lost. In the singer’s hotel room, they drank whiskey while Payne showed Paiz music he was about to release.

Paiz claimed that he and Payne, who allegedly used a fake Instagram account, stayed in touch for several days before meeting a second time on October 13 – this time at the CasaSur Hotel, where Payne later fell to his death.

“We spent the night, did drugs together and something intimate happened,” Paiz said, noting that Payne allegedly used cocaine while hanging out weed. “I saw he was acting normal, he wasn’t aggressive at all, he was really sweet. He asked me if I was okay.

When Paiz left that evening, Payne again offered him money and clothes “so people would know I was with him,” but he declined both. “I don’t know why I didn’t take it, I just didn’t want to take anything away from him.”

Paiz said Payne asked him to hang out a third time – he even showed up at his house – but the waiter said he had to work: “He said, ‘Well, it was a pleasure,’ and it was the last time I saw him. ”

Regarding Payne’s accident, Paiz said the singer was very “paranoid” days before his death and allegedly even blocked people from entering his room. Left alone, he might have freaked out, Paiz said.

Paiz denied knowing the two other suspects charged in Payne’s death. One of them, Rogelio “Roger” Nores, last week denied abandoning Payne before his death Daily Mail he “never thought something like this would happen.”

The third suspect who did it locally named like hotel employee Ezequiel David Pereyra, has not yet made any public comment.

According to the prosecutor’s statement last week, officials charged the three suspects after conducting nine raids and hearing “several dozen” testimonies from people including hotel staff, Payne’s family and friends, medical professionals and other experts.

Police analysts also reviewed more than 800 hours of surveillance footage from the hotel and its surrounding area, combed through the contents of Payne’s phone (including calls and messages on various messaging and social media apps), and assessed the singer’s guest list and commands from the hotel bar and to the restaurant to understand his drinking and eating habits, the statement said.

The investigation into Payne’s death is ongoing and prosecutors said they are considering ruling out the possibility of suicide because “in the state [Payne] He didn’t know what he was doing and couldn’t understand it.”

Officers investigated Payne in October died of multiple traumas and internal and external bleeding caused by the fall. He “did not take a reflexive stance to protect himself and … he may have fallen into a state of semi- or total unconsciousness,” officials said last month.

Payne’s body was released to his father, Geoff Payne, earlier this month after an autopsy including multiple toxicology tests revealed that Payne had traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his system in the moments before his death. Funeral preparations are underway in Payne’s home country of England.

Now singer Rita Ora Payne acknowledgedher collaborator on the 2018 song “For You (Fifty Shades Freed)” while hosting the MTV Europe Music Awards, held in Manchester, England, on Sunday.

“I just want to take a moment to remember someone who is very, very close to our hearts. We lost him recently and he was a big part of the MTV world and my world and I think a lot of you at home and everyone here tonight,” Ora said.

“He had the biggest heart and was always the first to offer help in any way he could,” she said, choking back tears. “He brought so much joy to every room he walked into and he left such a big mark on this world.”

Times staff writers Alexandra Del Rosario and Angie Orellana Hernandez contributed to this report.