One of Liam Payne’s Alleged Drug Dealers Arrested Amid Death Investigation

One of the men accused of selling drugs to Liam Payne in Argentina before his death has been arrested. Rolling Stone can confirm that Braian Paiz, a restaurant waiter who previously admitted to doing drugs with the One Direction singer, was detained on Friday, just days after being ordered to preventative jail time.

Last week, the judge in Payne’s case, Laura Bruniard, ordered that Paiz and Ezequiel Pereyra, the hotel worker who also allegedly sold Payne drugs, report for preventative jail time as they await trial. Both could face four to 15 years behind bars for the alleged sale of drugs. Paiz also must pay a $4,900 fine.

Paiz was charged with giving Payne cocaine “in exchange for a price” in the early hours of Oct. 14, according to a statement from the prosecutor last week. Payne allegedly consumed said drug at the hotel while Paiz spent time with him in his room.

“Also, on the same day, [Paiz] is accused of having delivered more cocaine, for a price… between 10:03 and 10:44 a.m.,” read the prosecutor’s description of the charges. “Payne appeared at the defendant’s home… traveling in a taxi and returning to the hotel.”

In a statement to Rolling Stone last week, Paiz’s attorney, Fernando Madeo Facente, slammed the drug sale accusation and described the ruling to send Paiz to preventative jail time as “completely arbitrary and illegitimate.” While Paiz previously admitted to the drug use in an interview, he has denied selling Payne cocaine.

“This resolution does nothing more than demonstrate what we maintain as a ‘witch hunt’ ought to be carried out in this case,” wrote Facente. “[They’re] looking for guilty parties and accusing innocent people of committing crimes.”

Facente did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment Friday.

It’s unclear at this time if Pereyra has also been detained. Last week, Bruniard charged two hotel administrators — Esteban Grassi and Gilda Martín — with “homicidio culposo,” or wrongful death. Payne’s friend Roger Nores also had his charge drastically lowered from “abandonment followed by death” to wrongful death.

“I do not believe that [Nores, Martin, and Grassi] planned and wanted Payne’s death. They did not plan the result but created a legally disapproved risk,” wrote the judge in her midway ruling.

The wrongful death charges against Martin and Grassi came after reviewing evidence that “clearly” captured Payne being “dragged up” to his hotel room on Oct. 16, hours before Payne died, while he was in an alleged “vulnerable state,” with the judge claiming that them bringing him to his room with that level of intoxication “created a legally disapproved risk to his life.”

Payne died of multiple traumas and internal bleeding after the fall, according to a post-autopsy report.