Paulo Liuzzo – who dated Princess Beatrice when she was just 17 years old – was found dead at the CitizenM Miami WorldCenter Hotel in a suspected drug overdose
Princess Beatrice’s ex-boyfriend has died from a suspected drug overdose in a Miami hotel, it has been reported.
Paolo Liuzzo was found dead at the CitizenM Miami WorldCenter Hotel at 3.22pm on February 7. His time of death was recorded at 3.34pm. Insiders said that he had struggled with drugs and racked up a number of high-risk debts with loan sharks from his problematic gambling habit.
The princess – who was only 17 when she started dating Paolo back in 2005 – was told about the tragedy just weeks after her mother Sarah Ferguson announced she’d been diagnosed with skin cancer.
Liuzzo had been in trouble several times with police over the course of his life. He was connected to the death of a student, in one case, and caught in possession of cocaine in another.
Speaking to The Sun, Miami Police Department Officer Michael Vega said cops attended a room at the hotel at 3.22pm on February 7, with Liuzzo’s time of death recorded just 12 minutes later at 3.34pm. He added: “It was investigated as an overdose death. The investigation is open and ongoing.”
Florida’s public records laws have stopped the case from being publicly disclosed in the state. According to his death certificate, he’d been working as a consultant in the art industry. The document added that he’d never been married and was living at an apartment near the hotel where he was found. A funeral is set for February 16 in his native Long Island, New York.
A longtime friend of the royal’s ex added: “Paolo was not doing great on a personal level. He loved to party and to gamble. He began using a lot of pharmaceutical drugs at first but that later led to cocaine and harder drugs. It was a very fast lifestyle and we all feared it would catch up with him eventually.” The friend added that he was regularly borrowing money to pay off old debts, leaving him in a “vicious cycle”.
The Mirror contacted Miami Police for a comment.
