Liam Payne suspect breaks silence with bombshell drug use claims and star’s final days

One of the three suspects being investigated over Liam Payne’s death has broken his silence after the star’s tragic death in Argentina last month

One of the three suspects being investigated over Liam Payne’s death has broken his silence (
Image: Getty Images North America)

One of the three suspects being investigated over Liam Payne’s death has broken his silence to insist he did nothing wrong and make astonishing claims about his relationship with the singer.

Argentinian waiter, Braian Nahuel Paiz, who is suspected of being Liam’s “dealer” in an ongoing prosecution probe, admitted to meeting the star, 31, in his hotel twice before his fatal October 16 plunge and confessed to taking drugs with him. But he insisted he never supplied Liam with narcotics or accepted any money from him.

Braian, 24, who appeared on Argentinian TV on Saturday, claimed that he met Liam for the first time at the restaurant where he worked, claiming the singer had exchanged contact details as he dined with his girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, and two other people.

Argentinian waiter, Braian Nahuel Paiz, claims he did not supply Liam Payne with drugs
Speaking to journalist, Guillermo Panizza, Braian, who claimed Liam communicated with him using an secret Instagram account, said that his home has been searched, but he is yet to be quizzed by investigators. Claiming he did not supply Liam with drugs, he said: “I never supplied Liam with drugs. Liam’s first contact with me was at my place of work.

“We swapped details and saw each other later that night. It was all normal. He came down from his hotel room to fetch me because I had got lost.”

He continued: “We got together there and he showed me some of the music he was going to bring out. I’ve heard people saying he was taking drugs, but the truth is that when he got to the restaurant where I was working he was already under the effects of drugs and he didn’t actually eat anything.”

Braian claims the second time he met Liam, he spent the night with the star, alleging the singer was consuming cocaine while Braian smoked marijuana. He said: “We took drugs together, but I never took drugs to him or accepted any money.”

Braian is one of the three people investigated in connection with Liam’s death. Claiming he had no idea who the other two suspects are, the waiter said he was confused when he saw the photos from the singer’s hotel room the day he died. He said: “When I saw the photos of the inside of Liam’s hotel room nothing made any sense to me. The Dove soap packet was there when I was in the hotel but I couldn’t understand what it was for or the candles or the glass of water.”

The restaurant worker, said to have been sacked from his job after his implication in the ongoing criminal probe, is the second person linked to Liam to speak out.

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

Responding to the reports which identified him as one of the suspects linked to the drug accusations and allegations he abandoned Liam before his death, businessman Mr Nores who has previously been described as the singer’s manager, said in a statement: “I never abandoned Liam, I went to his hotel three times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened. There were over 15 people at the hotel lobby chatting and joking with him when I left.

“I could have never imagined something like this would happen. I’ve given my statement to the prosecutor on October 17 as a witness and I haven’t spoken to any police officer or prosecutor ever since. I wasn’t Liam’s manager. He was just my very dear friend.”He added: “I’m really heart-broken with this tragedy, and I’ve been missing my friend every day.”

Prosecutors said in their lengthy statement released last Thursday three men they did not identify by name were now being formally investigated on suspicion of abandoning a person who subsequently died and supplying and facilitating drugs. The statement described one as the person who “routinely accompanied Liam during his stay in Buenos Aires.”

Tests have shown that Liam consumed alcohol and cocaine before he died and also had traces of an antidepressant in his system.
Prosecutors also made clear that the idea simger had committed suicide had been ruled out and said he was in a state of “semi or total unconsciousness” as he fell to his death when he “didn’t know what he was doing.”

They said of the hotel worker and the alleged “drug dealer”: “The second suspect is a hotel employee who must respond for two proven supplies of cocaine to Liam Payne during the time he was in the hotel. The third is also a drug dealer who is being investigated on suspicion of another two clearly proven supplies of cocaine at two different times on October 14.”

Liam’s dad, Geoff, flew to Argentina two days after his son died and returned to the UK with his body last Thursday to help finalise funeral arrangements following a second visit to the makeshift shrine set up by fans outside the singer’s hotel. The funeral is expected to take place in Liam’s home town of Wolverhampton.