A CasaSur Palermo Hotel employee is speaking out after they were charged in connection to the death of One Direction bandmate Liam Payne.
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Braian Nahuel Paiz, a now former waiter at one of the hotel restaurants, spoke to Telefe Noticias over the weekend about being accused of giving Payne drugs before he fell from the balcony of his hotel suite on Oct. 16.
“The truth is that I didn’t supply Liam with drugs,” Paiz declared.
The former hotel employee recalled meeting Liam Payne at one of the hotel’s restaurants on Oct. 2. He noted that the musician had been dining with his girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, as well as two others.
“We saw each other that night, it was all normal,” Paiz recounted. “He fetched me downstairs [at the Park Hyatt Palermo] because I got lost and I didn’t know how to get around, and he went to get me.”
Paiz said Payne had invited up to his hotel room to show him some music he was about to release. The former hotel employee said he and the musician had “shots of whiskey” as well. The visit lasted about an hour and a half.
“They’re saying that he was not under the influence before getting to [CasaSur] but the reality is that he was already on drugs,” Paiz claimed. “In fact, he didn’t eat.”
Also during the visit, the former hotel employee said that Liam Payne asked him for a drug dealer’s contact information. He allegedly said he wanted to get more drugs before a concert.
Paiz then admittedly sent Payne contact information through his Instagram account. This was the same day that Payne and Cassidy attended the Buenos Aires show for fellow OneDirection bandmate Niall Horan
Payne and Horan had allegedly amended their friendship after not being in contact for a while.
Liam Payne and the Hotel Employee Did Drugs Together Days Before the OneDirection Bandmate’s Death
After Cassidy left Buenos Aires to return to Florida, Payne left the Park Hyatt Palermo Hotel and checked into the CasaSur.
Paiz said that Payne stayed in contact with him after that. He claimed that the two hung out on Oct. 13.
The former hotel employee said that something “intimate” happened while he and Liam Payne were doing drugs together. “I saw him acting normal, he wasn’t aggressive at all, he was really sweet. He asked me if I was OK,” Paiz continued.
Paiz then stated Payne was very “scared” and “paranoid” days before his death. However, he denied bringing any drugs to Payne, they just did the drugs together.
Paiz further shared that Payne wanted to pay him, but he didn’t accept any money.
“When I left, [Payne] wanted to give me some clothes so people knew we had been together but I didn’t accept it,” Paiz added. “I left it behind the room’s TV,” he claimed. “It was gray joggers and a T-shirt. I don’t know why I didn’t take them, I just didn’t want to take anything.”
Paiz is among the three people arrested in connection to Payne’s death. He further denied knowing the other two.