Five men have now been charged in connection to Liam Payne’s hotel balcony death in Argentina — including one of the One Direction star’s close friends, according to a local report.
The 31-year-old’s pal, Roger Nores, was among those slapped with manslaughter charges over the weekend following Payne’s death in Buenos Aires in October, local outlet Infobae reported, citing multiple sources.
Esteban Grassi, a receptionist at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel, and Gilda Martin, the hotel’s head of security, were also hit with manslaughter raps, according to the sources.
Meanwhile, local waiter Braian Paiz and CasaSur employee Ezequiel Pereyra have been charged with allegedly supplying the One Direction crooner with drugs on multiple occasions in the lead-up to his death.
All five men have now been summoned to appear in court, the report said.
The three hit with manslaughter charges, including Nores — an Argentine energy fund tycoon — have been banned from leaving the country following the charges, the outlet reported.
The charges come months after Payne plunged to his death from the balcony of his CasaSur hotel room back on Oct. 16.
His autopsy later determined the singer had a toxic mixture of drugs in his system at the time, including crack and so-called “pink cocaine” — a mix of ketamine and other drugs.
Nores, who was with Payne on a daily basis during his two-week stay in Buenos Aires, had initially been investigated on suspicion of abandoning his friend after it emerged he left the hotel just hours before the singer’s death.
“I never abandoned Liam, I went to his hotel three times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened,” Nores said in a statement last month.
“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.”
“I’ve given my statement to the prosecutor on Oct 17 as a witness and I haven’t spoken to any police officer or prosecutor since,” Nores added at the time, noting Payne was a “very dear friend.”
