Liam Payne’s friend and two others will no longer face manslaughter charges in connection with his death, per multiple reports.
Rolling Stone reports that Argentina’s Court of Appeals issued a ruling on Wednesday, February 19, acquitting Payne’s pal, Roger Nores, and two workers at the hotel where the singer died of charges. The BBC also reported the news on Thursday, February 20.
“Glad this is finally over. I’m happy I’m now going to be able to travel to the U.K. and say goodbye to my friend,” Nores told Rolling Stone.
According to the outlet, a panel of judges ruled that Nores did not help Payne in “obtaining and consuming alcohol,” citing the court’s ruling, nor could he have prevented the One Direction star’s death last October.
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Nores has vehemently maintained his innocence since his friend’s death. “I never abandoned Liam. I went to his hotel 3 times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened,” Nores told the Daily Mail in November 2024. “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.”
Payne fell to his death from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on October 16, 2024.
Two workers at the hotel where the incident took place, the CasaSur Palermo, were also cleared of charges. Judges ruled that there was not enough evidence that Esteban Grassi, a receptionist, and Gilda Martin, a manager, acted in a “thoughtless, reckless, or merely negligent” manner in the moments leading up to Payne’s death at the establishment.
The two men accused of selling Payne drugs, Ezequiel Pereyra and Braian Nahuel Paiz, remain behind bars while they await trial.
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In December 2024, Paiz was charged with allegedly supplying drugs to Payne. Us Weekly confirmed in January 2025 that he was arrested and could face between four and 15 years in prison.
Paiz previously said that he and Payne took drugs together, but told Argentina’s Telefe Noticias, “I never took drugs to him or accepted any money.”
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Pereyra, who was also a CasaSur employee, was charged with allegedly supplying drugs to Payne before his passing. Local outlets reported Pereyra was arrested in January 2025, nearly one week after Paiz, per CBS News. It isn’t clear whether Pereyra has entered a plea in response to the charges against him.
Payne’s cause of death was listed as “multiple traumas,” including hemorrhages in his chest, skull and abdomen. It was later reported that a partial autopsy found “pink cocaine” — a mix of methamphetamine, ketamine and MDMA — along with cocaine, benzodiazepine and crack in Payne’s system at the time of his passing. He was laid to rest in Amersham, England, in November.
