Liam Payne’s friend Roger Nores is suing Singer’s father for defamation

Liam Payne’s friend Roger Nores is suing the late singer’s father, Geoff Payne, for defamation. In a new federal lawsuit filed in Florida on Wednesday and obtained by Rolling StoneNores alleges Geoff made false and defamatory statements about him in sworn statements to an Argentine prosecutor investigating Liam’s death, causing him over $10 million in damages.

Noted on the first page of the lawsuit, Nores pledges all “net financial proceeds from the lawsuit to benefit Liam Payne’s son,” Bear.

“All profits will be donated to my friend’s son,” says Nores Rolling Stone Thursday. “Geoff needs to go back on his (sworn) statement as he knows very well that I was not Liam’s nurse or caretaker. Liam, who I miss every day, was my dear friend and an independent, brilliant, respectful free man , who did what he wanted when he wanted.”

In the 263-page document, Nores claims the father of the One Direction star made “false, misleading” statements and omitted information in his “sworn statements” to Argentine officials while characterizing Nores’ involvement in Liam Payne’s life. Although the statements made by Geoff were made in another country, the lawsuit claims they were “accessed by individuals in the Palm Beach County/Florida” area and caused harm in those locations.

Nores claims that Geoff’s statements affected him and his reputation to “mega proportions with extensive damage.”

The archive dissects Geoff’s statements to an Argentine prosecutor in the days after the singer’s death, pulling out the numerous insistences in which the pop star’s father claims Liam was in Nores’ care. Geoff’s original statements played a role in the prosecutor’s “abandonment followed by death” charge in Argentina against Nores, which allowed for a 15-year sentence. (After review, the judge overseeing the case significantly lowered the charge to “homicidio culposo,” or wrongful death due to “carelessness and negligence,” in late December.)

Nores claims he sent a demand to withdraw defamation letter to Geoff’s lawyers on January 8. In a response dated Jan. 10, included in the lawsuit, Liam’s estate declined to withdraw the statements, accusing the Nores of “seeking to interfere with a police investigation by pressuring (Geoff) to change his evidence,” adding that they would “bring his actions to the attention of the Argentine authorities.”

“The estate could not take this matter more seriously,” reads the response letter. “It has therefore taken the decision to support (Geoff) in this matter. (Geoff) strongly denies that he has defamed or otherwise caused any harm to your client (in the manner set out in your correspondence of 8 January 2025 or otherwise).

Liam’s estate also criticized the lawsuit’s intention to donate the proceeds of the settlement to Liam’s son as “meaningless,” adding that the lawsuit is causing Liam’s child with Cheryl Cole more “irreparable harm.”

Lawyers for Geoff did not immediately respond Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.

The basis of Nores’ defamation suit stems from Geoff’s statements made on October 22 and 26 to an Argentine prosecutor. In them, Liam’s father claims he was only able to communicate with his son through Nores and his girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, and that Nores “had full responsibility for Liam’s care” after making himself “completely available” to Liam, among other claims.

Pushing back on the communication claim, Nores insists in the lawsuit that “Geoff’s family communicated with Liam via Liam’s laptop.”

To nearly all claims, Nores responds by writing that he “never agreed to be Liam’s caretaker … had no legal duty to Liam” and that the two were simply “dear friends.” He also refers to an August email Nores sent to Geoff (which was included in the trial as evidence) denying being responsible for Liam’s care. It also claims Nores asked Geoff to come to Wellington, Florida, in September 2024, where Liam was living at the time, to look after the singer, but Geoff refused.

Nores also denies Geoff’s claim that during a 10-week stay in Florida for Liam’s recovery over the summer, the singer “was always monitored by psychologists and psychiatrists, all of Roger’s contacts.” Nores denies this, writing that Geoff was Liam’s “self-proclaimed caretaker” and that Geoff “did not retain” their contacts by choice.

Part of Geoff’s statement to the Argentine prosecutor included that Nore, Kate and Liam’s bodyguards were part of a “care group” in charge of the singer and that the group’s aim was to “keep Liam busy” as he “couldn’t stand alone in the vulnerable situation he was in.” He went on to claim that Nores “manipulated” Liam into firing his bodyguard after Liam’s psychiatrist quit in September, and that Nores helped hire a new psychiatrist for the singer.

“Liam went to another psychiatrist with Rogelio Nores and both hid from him the alcohol and drug problems that Liam had so that he could prescribe psychiatric medication and avoid making the treatment recommendations that (a former doctor) had given them,” Geoff allegedly told the prosecutor. “Because of this situation, (Liam’s bodyguard) decided to go to the new psychiatrist alone and revealed the real problems that Liam had. In light of this fact, Rogelio Nores talked to Liam and manipulated him into firing him.”

Along with his typical response of never being Liam’s caretaker, Nores said he and Liam never saw another psychologist and claimed Geoff’s sworn statement was “100% fiction” and had “no independent corroborating basis” for it. Nores further claims that after the bodyguard’s firing, Geoff became “the self-proclaimed caretaker of Liam” and that the singer’s father “never provided a temporary or new bodyguard” for Liam.

On Jan. 13, Nores’ legal team sent a letter to Geoff’s lawyers, asking them to provide “documents or independent confirmation proving that the contents” of the Jan. 8 letter Nores sent are inaccurate. Nores claims that Geoff has yet to respond.

“Liam was an independent person, an adult in control of all his personal, financial and professional decisions and made those decisions independently,” the lawsuit states. “To (Nore’s) knowledge and information and belief, Liam was not subject to any legally mandated and supervised care program, guardianship or conservatorship or the like.”

As an exhibit, Nores includes an email from August 2024 in which he allegedly communicates with Liam, Geoff and Liam’s business manager that he “wanted to stay completely out of the picture and disconnected from now on” and that he “never had access ” to Liam’s finances. He also claims he helped Liam close a deal with Netflix to be a judge Building the bandthat he paid for a private flight for Liam to South America and that the singer was preparing for a tour.

“I have never received any salary despite paying for a large portion of his expenses during his stay,” Nores wrote in the Aug. 23 letter, later adding, “I do not need to be reimbursed for my expenses as I helped him as a friend. Please note that now that he is back in the UK I decided to stop helping him as I don’t live in Europe and frankly don’t have time anymore due to my business schedule.”

“I am really concerned about his well being while he is out there and I hope you can get professional doctors to check his health regularly as soon as possible as I did while he was out in the US,” Nores wrote. “I will stay completely out of the picture and disconnected from now on and I wish you all the best with Liam’s health and career.”

The new case comes several weeks after the judge handling Liam’s death inquest charged Nores and two hotel workers with wrongful death and ordered prison terms for two others accused of selling the singer’s drugs. (The two alleged drug dealers have been arrested.)

In his ruling, the judge claimed that Nores had taken a “guarantor position” for Liam’s family and was the main point of contact for the musician at the hotel. She also stated that Liam died after trying to climb off the balcony while in a sedated state.