Investigations into the death of Liam Payne: Kellner denies the dealer allegations

The Argentine waiter accused of supplying drugs to Liam Payne (1993-2024) has broken his silence. In a TV interview, the man claimed he had done nothing wrong. Liam Payne, best known for the band One Direction, died on October 16 when he fell several stories from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires.

According to Argentine police, toxicology results showed that Payne had consumed alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant several times in the 72 hours before his death. During the investigation, three suspects were arrested, including a hotel employee. They are accused of “neglect of a person resulting in death as well as the supply and distribution of narcotics,” the investigation report said.

The waiter, suspected of being a drug supplier, admitted on Argentine television on Saturday that he had met Payne at the Hotel CasaSur Palermo and consumed drugs with him. However, he stressed that he never supplied the British singer with narcotics or accepted money from him.

The 24-year-old said he met the singer a few days earlier at a restaurant where he worked. “I’ve heard people say he was on drugs, but the truth is that when he walked into the restaurant where I worked, he was already under the effects of drugs and hadn’t actually eaten anything. There was a moment when in which he approached me and asked for my contact information. I gave him an Instagram account and after that he sent me messages because he wanted to take drugs even though he had already used narcotics.” In the interview in front of the “Telefe Noticias” camera, he went on to say that they met on October 2nd in another hotel where Payne was initially staying. “We met there and he showed me some of the music he wanted to release. While I was in his room we drank a few whiskeys.”

The second and final hotel meeting took place on the night of Sunday, October 13th. They spent the night together and took drugs. “He wasn’t aggressive at all, he behaved really well towards me, he was really nice. He asked me if I was OK. I have all the messages in which we arranged the second meeting. I didn’t delete anything . I got messages offering me money because he seemed to be used to offering money for everything, but I never took anything.”

As it became known over the weekend, Argentine police are still searching for the singer’s missing Rolex watch as part of their investigation.

In a detailed statement last Thursday, police said that three men, whom they did not name, were now being officially investigated. They are accused of abandoning a person who later died and drug trafficking and supply. The police also made it clear that the assumption that the musician committed suicide could be ruled out. They said he was in a state of “semi- or total unconsciousness” when he fell to his death and “did not know what he was doing.”

Payne’s body was returned to Britain last week. The funeral will take place in his hometown of Wolverhampton.