Liam Payne’s friend, two hotel workers acquitted in death investigation
The two men accused of selling the singer drugs will remain behind bars
By Tomás Mier
Liam Payne‘s friend Roger Nores and two workers at the CasaSur Palermo hotel had their charges fully dropped in the singer’s death investigation, a panel of judges from Argentina’s Court of Appeals announced in an extensive ruling obtained by Rolling Stone Wednesday night.
“Glad this is finally over,” Nores tells Rolling Stone. “I’m happy I’m now going to be able to travel to the UK and say goodbye to my friend.”
The judges ruled that Nores did not play a role in Payne “obtaining and consuming alcohol,” nor could have done anything to prevent Payne’s death in the hours leading up to it.
“It is possible that, if he had stayed in his company at all times, [Payne] would not have obtained the drugs and alcohol in the quantities necessary for the state of intoxication he exhibited at the time of his death,” reads the ruling. “But it cannot be ruled out that, even if he had taken those extreme precautions… that [Payne] would have managed to obtain the substances anyway, as is common among addicts, even when they are under the loving care of their family.”
The panel of judges explained that Nores’ “situation” is no different than his family’s responsibility in helping Payne with his addiction issues, as the judges referred to an Aug. 23, 2024, email from Nores to his father expressing his concern for Payne. “Despite accusing Nores of failing to communicate and raise alarms with the victim’s family, they remained silent about the email through which the accused had expressed his concerns and warned that he would not be able to look after Payne’s health,” reads the ruling.
As for hotel workers Gilda Martin and Esteban Grassi, the judges wrote that there was not enough proof that they acted in “thoughtless, reckless, or merely negligent behavior” in their actions leading up to his death. Attorneys for Nores had pointed to the hotel workers’ decision to carry Payne — who some witnesses claimed, according to the ruling, was passed out — up to his room in the minutes before his death.
The ruling essentially clears Nores, Grassi, and Martin, stating that the “formation of this case does not affect their good name and honor.”
Ezequiel Pereyra and Braian Paiz — the two men accused of selling Payne drugs — will remain behind bars as they await trial. Wednesday’s ruling included testimony from Pereyra’s coworkers and a Cabify driver who took Pereyra to Payne’s hotel.
“When he was about to leave the hotel, the defendant showed them a $100 bill and told them that ‘I had to run an errand for a guest… I have to bring drugs,’” read a summary of a declaration from one of Pereyra’s coworkers at CasaSur Palermo.
Paiz previously admitted to giving Payne drugs but assured it was for free. The judges claim there was enough proof to show Payne paid for the substances after the singer was filmed asking for money from the front desk hours prior to Paiz’s arrival. His attorney Fernando Madeo Facente previously argued Paiz offered the drugs as a “gift” in texts. However, according to the ruling, Paiz later texted, “If you have the money in pesos, we can buy cocaine. I’m off at 11:30.” (To Rolling Stone, Facente previously described the charges against him as a “witchhunt.”)
The ruling maintained the explanation that Payne died after falling unconscious from the balcony of his hotel room. However, “it it is unknown whether it was due to a clumsy maneuver on [Payne’s] part near the railing or in the vicinity, or if it happened because they lost consciousness and fell into the void as dead weight,” reads the ruling. “Only, thanks to medical reports, some assumptions have been made about their mental condition at the time of the fall, based on the absence of defensive or protective marks at the moment of the impact.”
The extensive document also included an interview with a night worker at the hotel who Payne allegedly “asked for drugs, sometimes with aggression,” along with summaries of interviews with numerous other hotel workers, Geoff Payne (the singer’s former manager), and the two sex workers who Payne hired the day of his death.