Three people have been charged in connection with the death of Liam Payne. The local prosecutor's office on Thursday confirmed charges against a hotel employee, an alleged drug dealer and a friend of Payne: all three allegedly supplied the singer with narcotics before his fatal fall at the CasaSur Palermo hotel on last month.
The first person is a man who was with Payne “every day” during the singer's stay in Argentina. He is charged with abandonment of a person resulting in death and supplying him with illegal drugs. He would risk 5 to 15 years in prison.
A hotel employee also allegedly brought cocaine to Payne twice, while an alleged drug dealer was responsible for the drugs consumed by the singer on October 14.
The Nation reports that the first accused is a businessman friend of Payne, who had presented himself as Payne's manager in Argentina, even though he was not. Multiple outlets also reported that the friend had not told Payne's family that he had a drug problem. According to the newspaper, investigators tried to call him on the day of his death, but he never showed up. The next day he spoke to the police through a lawyer.
According to the prosecutor's office, authorities used 800 hours of footage and dozens of interviews to file charges, raided nine locations and, according to The Nationthey seized nine cell phones, three computers, two hard drives and a jar of marijuana.
The new investigation explains how Payne's body was transferred to Britain on a British Airways flight for funeral services. The prosecutor's office said it was able to carry out medico-legal, forensic and laboratory studies on Payne before allowing his father Geoff to return with Payne's body to England. And new details have emerged about the substances present in Liam Payne's body at the time of his death. Payne had consumed alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant, according to a statement released Thursday by the Buenos Aires prosecutor's office.
“This conclusion was reached after complete toxicological analyzes on urine, blood and vitreous samples, carried out in a very short time,” reads the prosecutor's statement, adding that his family had already been informed of the results.
The official confirmation comes after local reports, shared by several publications in the United States, that Payne had so-called “tusi” or “pink cocaine” in his system, a cocktail of drugs that includes MDMA, ketamine and methamphetamine. But “pink cocaine” (or the drugs that compose it) was not mentioned in the prosecutor's latest statement on Thursday.
According to the Prosecutor's investigation through video footage, documents and social communications, the singer was administered narcotics four times while he was in the hotel between October 13 and 16. The cocaine, alcohol and antidepressants in his system were consumed by Payne within 72 hours of his death, the report states.
According to last month's post-autopsy report, confirmed by prosecutors on Thursday, the former One Direction member died from multiple traumas, internal and external bleeding and a head injury following the fall.
The CasaSur Palermo hotel was raided for the first time late last month with authorities gathering video and documentation for the investigation. “We are heartbroken,” Payne's family said in a statement last month. “Liam will forever live in our hearts and we will remember him for his kind, funny and courageous soul. We support each other as best we can as a family and ask for privacy and space at this terrible time.”
From Rolling Stone US
