Late pop star Liam Payne allegedly contacted hotel staff "constantly," requesting alcohol and inquiring about where to obtain cocaine shortly before his death, according to reports.
Now, text messages alleged to be from Payne to an escort have surfaced, in which he allegedly offered her $5,000 (£3,900) to "party." Argentine journalist Mauro Szeta shared messages on his website VíaSzeta, which appear to show a southeastern Florida phone number sending WhatsApp texts to an escort.
These messages reportedly included a link to Payne's Instagram profile and an invitation to "play." The text, that was reportedly from Liam, read: “'I have all day... I'd gift you $5,000... US dollars,' the message reads. 'You come to my hotel, we party, just me and u."
The woman’s WhatsApp profile picture reportedly featured her and a friend, to which he is said to have replied: “Who's your friend, do you want to bring her?” The escort replied: “Let's go Noe (sic) until 7pm, 5000 USD both, it's the whole day the two of us together.” The individual sending the messages, allegedly Payne, responded: "Ok fine, but bank transfer."
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Getty Images for Atlantis The Royal)Image:
Supplied)Another incident at the hotel was also reported. According to a senior employee, Liam frequently called receptionists to request alcohol and inquire about where to purchase cocaine. A bellboy who took him a courtesy platter of fruit shortly after he checked into the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires also told bosses the artist had insulted him after asking him whether he could get him cocaine and receiving a 'no' for an answer.
Esteban Grassi, the chief receptionist who made a 999 call requesting urgent medical assistance for Liam before his drink and drug-fuelled balcony plunge and is now under formal investigation along with four other suspects in an ongoing court probe, made the stunning claims.
Respected Argentinian news portal Todo Noticias published WhatsApp messages it said Grassi, one of the three men pictured carrying Liam back up to his third-floor room from the hotel lobby shortly before he died, had handed in to court investigators. One of the text exchanges, from a person registered in Esteban's phone as Santiago Benitez Bellboy AM, said: "Hello Esteban how are you? Sorry for bothering you but I wanted to let you know about a little situation I had with the person in room 310. When I went to hand him a guest amenity and welcome him to the hotel and Argentina, he invited me into his room (which was a complete mess) and asked me if I could get him cocaine.
"I told him, 'I'm sorry sir, but neither I or any other staff can help you with that type of service' to which he replied that I was useless and told me to get out of his sight. I felt a bit threatened because he didn't behave very politely." Appearing to reference another hotel worker identified locally as one of the five men under investigation, head of security Gilda Martin, the message from the bellboy continued: "I'm going to tell Gilda this too so you’re both aware and there's no misunderstandings in case this man mentions my name again at some point in his stay, because he asked me what my name was. I'm just telling you and Gilda this."
The exchange ended with Mr Grassi trying to reassure the junior hotel worker by telling him “not to worry” about what Liam had said. Mr Grassi also told investigators of Liam’s stay at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in the Argentinian capital, according to Todo Noticias: “I understand he was more active at night, that he ran reception repeatedly to ask for alcohol all the time and ask where he could get drugs, specifically cocaine.” He went on to claim he acted as a translator for the two female escorts Liam spent time with before he died because they didn’t speak English and the singer didn’t speak Spanish.
Confirming earlier claims that the former One Direction singer asked for 300 dollars and alcohol when they went up to his room, Mr Grassi said: “Liam asked me to act as translator. “That’s when they tell me he had to pay them but they didn’t specify why. They told me he owed them 5,000 dollars but it seemed strange to me because he had asked me previously for 300 dollars and although I’m not an expert about these things, the amount of money they were asking for seemed a bit excessive to me.”
Screenshots of WhatsApp messages exchanged with one of the women said to have come from Liam’s phone, an American mobile phone number with the 561 southern Florida area code, were also published by Todo Noticias which said the sex worker had showed Mr Grassi the conversation to prove he owed them the money.
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