Waiter accused of supplying Liam Payne with cocaine before fatal fall arrested

3 January 2025, 20:19

Braian Nahuel Paiz, 24, was arrested on Friday and is remanded in prison after being charged with selling Liam Payne cocaine a week ago.

A waiter who has been accused of selling Liam Payne cocaine before he tragically fell to his death has been arrested today.

A judge ordered Paiz to be remanded in prison after he was charged with supplying the One Direction star with cocaine a week ago.

The judge, Laura Bruniard, gave Paiz 24 hours to hand himself in after making the order.

But the arrest didn’t happen until today, when authorities found him at his home in Ingeniero Budge, a suburb of Buenos Aires.

Paiz is one of five people charged in connection with Payne’s death at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel on October 16.

The 31-year-old former One Direction singer died in October after falling from the third floor balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires.

Paiz and hotel worker Ezequiel David Pereyra, 21, are accused of selling Payne cocaine on two occasions.

If convicted, they have been told they could face between four and 15 years in prison.

Both men deny the allegations, with Paiz admitting to taking drugs with Payne but insisting he did not sell them.

Paiz’s lawyer Fernando Madeo has confirmed his client had been arrested but hasn’t given any more details about what prison he would be taken to or when.

Mr Madeo has earlier claimed that Braian Paiz has been the victim of a “witch hunt” as officials desperately try to find culprits in the case of the famous singer’s death.

He said: “They want to look for culprits at any price, violating constitutional rights and guarantees and forming a ’truth’ which turns out to be false as is the case here, accusing innocent people of crimes they haven’t committed.”

Speaking to the Argentine TV station America TV, Mr Madeo said his client had arranged to meet up with Liam after meeting him and striking up a conversation at the Buenos Aires restaurant where he worked.

According to Mr Madeo, Paiz was a "lifelong fan of One Direction" so wanted to spend time with the singer.

Mr Madeo continued: “He was fond of Liam and liked him.

"He took advantage of the meeting he had with him in the restaurant where he worked and they exchanged messages."

Read more: Five people charged over Liam Payne's hotel plunge death including staff members

Read more: Liam Payne's final hours revealed as five people charged for hotel plunge death

Paiz continues to deny selling Liam drugs, and Mr Madeo said any suggestion that he did is "absurd".

The hotel's manager, Gilda Martin, and its receptionist, Esteban Grassi, as well as Payne's friend Roger Nores have all been charged with manslaughter, Argentina's prosecutor's office says.

Judge Bruniard said that she did not think that Liam Payne's friend, the hotel manager and the receptionist "had planned or wanted the death of Payne" but that their actions had created a "risk" to his life.

The judge said Nores "is responsible for the crime of negligent homicide as the perpetrator given that he had assumed a position of guarantor in front of the family of the deceased".

It is claimed there is footage showing US citizen Nores was in the hotel around 50 minutes before Payne's death, and the judge said he "should have consulted a doctor" and "should have done this without relying on what the hotel employees could do".

Prosecutors also claim Martin and Grassi saw Payne under the influence in the lobby, but did not provide medical help.

Judge Bruniard said that on the day of Payne's death he "was unable to care for himself" and footage shows he was unconscious and being dragged "by three people".

"The way he was being handled shows a state of vulnerability," the judge said, adding that Payne being taken to his room was a "risk to his life".

"Payne's consciousness was altered and there was a balcony in the room," she added.

"The proper thing to do was to leave him in a safe place and with company until a doctor arrived."

She added that she does not think Martin and Grassi acted "maliciously", but were "imprudent in allowing him to be taken to the room and taking him there respectively".

If the three of them are found guilty they could be sentenced for between one and five years in prison.

Paiz’s lawyer also claimed reports that his client refused to testify were false, stating Paiz had submitted a written statement addressing the accusations.

He argued that sharing drugs in a private setting without monetary exchange is treated more leniently under Argentine law.

Payne’s friend Nores, who has been banned from leaving Argentina, has denied wrongdoing, insisting he visited Payne multiple times on the day of his death and left him in the company of others.

He told a recent documentary Payne was in "good spirits" before the tragedy.

The investigation into Payne’s death continues, with prosecutors and defence lawyers clashing over the circumstances that led to the singer’s fatal fall.