Liam Payne was arguing with 'mystery woman' in hotel lobby three hours before death

The ITV The X Factor star died this week after falling from a balcony in a Buenos Aires hotel.

Liam Payne was "very upset" and arguing with a mystery woman in a hotel lobby three hours before his tragic death, a witness has claimed. The ITV The X Factor star died this week after falling from a balcony in a Buenos Aires hotel.

Michael Fleischmann was also staying at the Casa Sur Palermo Hotel in Argentina and claims he saw the One Direction star "very upset" as he argued about money in front of other guests. According to Fleischmann, the Brit singer kept repeating: “I’ll give you US$20,000 dollars just because I can. I have US$55 million and I like to help people.”

He described the 31-year-old as “a man with an English accent who seemed to be causing a disturbance.” The guest claimed that Liam “seemed very upset, agitated, a little wild, walking around and pacing," as well as "very energised".

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He continued: “We don’t know what they were doing before that, but she looked very uncomfortable and he kept repeating that information." Mum Toni said: “It just looked like she was extremely uncomfortable with him, and a little apprehensive."

The mum added the hotel lobby was almost empty at the time of the alleged altercation, saying: “It was just my son, me, Liam Payne, the woman and the staff. The manager was trying to politely intervene or calm him down.

"There was a feeling of anxiety in the area.” According to Michael, "the situation definitely felt very tense." After that, the mum and son went up to their room just as Liam allegedly got in an elevator.

Michael said: “He kind of pushed my arm out of the way. That’s the last I saw him." A coroner’s report found that Payne died of multiple injuries from the fall from the third-floor balcony, and that he was alone at the time of his death.

As well as an outpouring of grief from his global fanbase, his former bandmates wrote individual tributes, as well as a joint statement saying in part: “The memories we shared with him will be treasured for ever”.