OJ Simpson’s executor has said he will try to stop $33.5million (£27million) from being paid to the families of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman.
The former NFL star and Hollywood actor was cleared of his double murder in 1995 in what was dubbed the “trial of the century” but was later found responsible for the deaths in a civil trial.
Simpson died Wednesday at the age of 76 from cancer without having paid the majority of the 1997 judgment, but the Goldman and Brown families could be in line to recoup some of what he left behind behind him.
His will was filed Friday in a Clark County, Nevada, court, naming his attorney Malcolm LaVergne as executor.
The document shows that Simpson’s property was placed in a trust created this year, but Mr. LaVergne told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that his entire estate had not yet been accounted for.
The will lists his four children and notes that any beneficiary who seeks to challenge the provisions of the will “shall receive, without trust, one dollar and no more in lieu of any interest claimed in this will or its assets.”
Mr. LaVergne, who represented Simpson since 2009, said he specifically did not want the Goldman family to see the money from Simpson’s estate.
“I hope the Goldmans get nothing, nothing,” he told the Review-Journal. “Them specifically. And I will do everything in my capacity as executor or personal representative to try to make sure they get nothing.”
Learn more:
OJ Simpson has died at the age of 76
OJ murder trial: how this dramatic legal case unfolded
Hundreds of valuable possessions had been seized as part of the jury reward and Simpson said he lived solely on his NFL and private pensions.
Simpson, nicknamed “The Juice,” was acquitted after a 1995 criminal trial watched by millions around the world, during which he tried on a pair of bloodstained gloves believed to have been found at the crime scene.
The gloves appeared too small, leading defense attorney Johnnie Cochran to say, “If they don’t fit, you should acquit.” »
Ronald Goldman
How the OJ Simpson trial unfolded
Speaking to Sky News after Simpson’s death, Goldman family lawyer David Cook said: “I regard Simpson for what he was: that he was a bad person; that he was a murderer; that he escaped acquittal here.
“He remains today and in his death as the day he committed the crime, no matter how many years ago.
“He’s still the same person. And the fact that he’s dead doesn’t change that.”
Mr Goldman’s father, Fred Goldman, earlier told Sky’s sister network NBC News that Simpson’s death was “not a big loss”.
“The only thing I have to say is just another reminder of Ron being gone all those years ago,” he said.
“It’s not a great loss to the world. It’s another reminder that Ron is gone.”
