Judge Laura Bruniard of the Criminal Court #34 charged five people on Friday as part of the investigation Argentina’s General Prosecutor’s Office is carrying out on former One Direction singer Liam Payne’s death in Buenos Aires in October. 

Two of them are accused of providing drugs to the pop star, while the other three are facing culpable homicide charges on the grounds that their alleged negligence led to his tragic end.

Three of them had already been charged by a prosecutor in November. Under Argentine law, a prosecutor can charge someone while a crime is being investigated. The judge can later confirm the charges if they deem that there is sufficient evidence to back them.

Payne had been staying at the CasaSur hotel in the Palermo neighborhood in Buenos Aires for three days when he fell from his room’s balcony and died from his injuries on October 16. He had arrived in Argentina earlier that month to attend a show by his friend and former band mate Niall Horan. 

You may also be interested in: Liam Payne argued with a woman hours before his death, witnesses say

A CasaSur staff member named Ezequiel Pereyra and a man identified as Braian Paiz are both charged with selling him cocaine within the 48 hours prior to his death. The judge ordered them to appear before court to be taken into pre-trial detention, and froze AR$5 million (around US$5,000) of their assets. They could face four to 15 years in prison if found guilty.

Paiz said in a TV interview with Telefé in November that he met Payne while working as a waiter at a restaurant where the singer had gone to on October 2, the day of Horan’s concert. Paiz said that Payne invited him up to his room at the Hyatt hotel, where he was originally staying at, and days later they spent the night together at CasaSur. Paiz said they used drugs together, but that he didn’t procure them.

According to a communiqué from the General Prosecutors Office, the judge is accusing Paiz of selling Payne cocaine in the early morning of October 14 — which matches the time when Paiz said they spent the night together. The judge added that Paiz stayed at the hotel until after 8 a.m. and that a few hours later Payne went to Paiz’s home to buy more cocaine.

According to the accusation, Pereyra sold cocaine to Payne in the early hours of October 15 and on October 16, approximately an hour before the pop star died.

Culpable homicide

Three other people, Rogelio Nores, Gilda Martín and Esteban Grassi, have been charged with culpable homicide. They were already facing preliminary charges issued last November by the prosecutor who first investigated the case. 

In Argentine law, a culpable homicide is to cause a person’s death due to recklessness, negligence, or incompetence while fulfilling professional or caring duties. They could be sentenced to one to five years of prison if found guilty. The judge also froze AR$50 million (around US$50,000) of their assets.

Argentine-American businessman Nores, who was Payne’s friend and manager, was accompanying the former One Direction member during his visit to Buenos Aires. He is now being accused of Payne’s death due to his “actions and omissions” before and during the period of time of his death, “which ended up causing Payne to fall from the room balcony.”

According to the judge, Nores “failed to fulfill his care, assistance and helping duties” as his manager, and “abandoned him to his own fate, knowing [Payne] was incapable of taking care of himself” due to his drug and alcohol addiction, and “fully knowing he was intoxicated, vulnerable and helpless.”

Nores had promised Payne’s family that he would take care of him, and was likely Payne’s emergency contact at the hotel, the judge ruled. Security footage showed him leaving the hotel 50 minutes before Payne’s death. Bruniarte added that the singer’s vulnerable state was evident and that Nores should have not trusted the hotel staff to handle the situation properly.

Nores was first charged by the prosecutor of “abandonment of a person leading to death” — for which he could have faced up to 15 years in prison — as well as supplying Payne with drugs.

Martín, the hotel manager, and Grassi, the head receptionist, were both at the hotel lobby where Payne started yelling and trashing the area moments before his death, so they were aware of the singer’s vulnerable state, the judge said. Payne “could not stand up due to substance consumption.”

According to the judge Martín didn’t do anything to prevent other staff members from taking Payne up to his room, which had a balcony and was therefore hazardous. Grassi led a group of three people who dragged Payne up to his room, according to security camera footage.

Both of them, the judge said, “should have kept him safe in an area free of hazards, keeping him company until he was provided with medical assistance.” While they did not intend for Payne to die, their “reckless” actions while fulfilling their responsible roles led to the tragic end, the judge added.

“Taking Payne up to the room he was staying at, while he was in that state, created a danger to his life that is legally unacceptable,” Judge Bruniard said. She added that, in her opinion, Payne did not faint before falling, but that rather he was trying to “leave through the balcony.”