Liam Payne’s friend, Rogelio “Roger” Nores, has filed a defamation lawsuit against the late singer’s father, Geoff Payne.
According to documents reviewed by Rolling Stone, Nores alleges the older Payne made false and misleading statements about him in sworn declarations to the Argentine prosecutor investigating the former One Direction singer’s death, leading to over $10 million in damages.
Nores has pledged to donate all “net financial proceeds of the judicial proceedings” to Liam Payne’s 7-year-old son, Bear, whom he shared with singer Cheryl Cole.
“Geoff needs to backtrack on his [sworn] statement as he very well knows I wasn’t Liam’s nurse or caretaker,” Nores said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “Liam, who I miss every day, was my dear friend and an independent, brilliant, respectful free man who did whatever he wanted whenever he wanted.”
The 263-page lawsuit was filed in Florida on Wednesday and alleges that although Geoff Payne's statements were made in Argentina, Nores claims they were “accessed by persons in the Palm Beach County/Florida” area and impacted his reputation in “mega proportions” there.
Payne's declarations suggested Nores had “full responsibility for Liam’s care” and accused him of failing to disclose the singer’s substance abuse issues to psychiatrists and manipulating the 31-year-old to fire his bodyguard.
Those details reportedly led the Argentine prosecutor to pursue an “abandonment followed by death” charge against Nores. The judge overseeing the case lowered the charge to wrongful death due to “imprudence and negligence” last month.
Nores reportedly sent a defamation retraction letter to Payne's attorneys on Jan. 8. Two days later, Liam Payne's estate supposedly declined to retract the declarations while accusing Nores of “seeking to interfere with a police investigation by pressuring [Geoff] to change his evidence,” and that they would “bring his actions to the attention of the Argentinian authorities.”
The lawsuit follows a ruling in Argentina where Nores, along with four others, were charged with wrongful death related to Liam’s passing.
