The executor of OJ Simpson’s estate has said he will try to prevent a $33.5m (£27m) payout to the families of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman.
The former NFL star and Hollywood actor was cleared of their double murder in 1995 in what was dubbed the “trial of the century” but later found liable for the deaths in a civil lawsuit.
Simpson died on Wednesday aged 76 from cancer without having paid the majority of the 1997 judgment but the Goldman and Brown families could be in line to get some of what he left behind.
His will was filed in a Clark County court in Nevada on Friday, naming his lawyer Malcolm LaVergne as the executor.
The document shows Simpson’s property was placed into a trust that was created this year, but Mr LaVergne told the Las Vegas Review-Journal his entire estate has not yet been tallied.
Image: OJ Simpson and Nicole Brown Simpson in 1993. Pic: AP
The will lists his four children and notes that any beneficiary who seeks to challenge provisions of the will “shall receive, free of trust, one dollar and no more in lieu of any claimed interest in this will or its assets”.
Mr LaVergne, who had represented Simpson since 2009, said he specifically did not want the Goldman family seeing any money from Simpson’s estate.
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“It’s my hope that the Goldmans get zero, nothing,” he told the Review-Journal. “Them specifically. And I will do everything in my capacity as the executor or personal representative to try and ensure that they get nothing.”
Read more:OJ Simpson has died at the age of 76OJ murder trial: How the dramatic court case unfolded
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Hundreds of valuable possessions had been seized as part of the jury award and Simpson said he lived only on his NFL and private pensions.
Simpson, nicknamed “The Juice”, was acquitted after a 1995 criminal trial watched by millions worldwide, where he famously tried on a pair of blood-stained gloves allegedly found at the scene of the crime.
The gloves appeared to be too small, leading defence attorney Johnnie Cochran to say: “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”
Image: Ronald Goldman
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How OJ Simpson’s trial unfolded
Speaking to Sky News following Simpson’s death, the Goldman family’s lawyer David Cook said: “I review and consider Simpson as what he was: that he was a bad person; he was a murderer; he got out of the acquittal here.
“He remains now and in his death as the day that he committed the crime in whatever the amount of years ago.
“He’s still the same person. And the fact that he died doesn’t change it.”
Mr Goldman’s father Fred Goldman told Sky’s partner network NBC News earlier that Simpson’s death was “no great loss”.
“The only thing I have to say is it’s just a further reminder of Ron being gone all these years,” he said.
“It’s no great loss to the world. It’s a further reminder of Ron being gone.”
Source : Sky News
