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After his death, many have raised questions about OJ Simpson’s estate and whether or not the families of murder victims Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman would receive payments from the $33.5 million in wrongful death damages granted to them by 1997 civil case in California.
If it’s up to Simpson’s longtime lawyer, Malcolm LaVergne, the families may not receive what they’re owed after all. LaVergne, who was named the executor of Simpson’s estate upon his death on April 10, 2024, at the age of 76, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he will do “everything” in his power to keep the murder victims’ families from receiving a payout from Simpson’s estate, which was placed in a trust in 2023.
While the total value of Simpson’s estate has yet to be totaled, LaVergne insists that he aims to prevent any additional payouts to the families. “It’s my hope that the Goldmans get zero, nothing,” he told the Review. “Them specifically. And I will do everything in my capacity as the executor or personal representative to try and ensure that they get nothing.”
David Cook, a lawyer for Ron Goldman’s father, previously told The New York Times that the damages owed to the Goldman family have multiplied to $114 million after nearly three decades of accumulated interest. However, LaVergne claims that the California civil court never officially ordered Simpson to pay the judgment. He also took issue with the Goldman’s handling of Simpson’s 2007 memoir. The family was granted control of the manuscript in court, which they retitled If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer
, and continue to receive royalties from the book’s sales.
Simpson was accused of murdering his ex-wife and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in 1994. The 1995 trial lasted for nearly nine months, during which the prosecution presented evidence including DNA, blood samples, and a bloody glove found at the crime scene. Simpson’s defense team, led by attorneys Johnnie Cochran and Robert Kardashian, raised doubts about the validity of the evidence and argued that Simpson was framed by racist police officers. Ultimately, Simpson was acquitted of all criminal charges. However, he was later found liable for Goldman and Brown’s deaths in the 1997 civil trial and ordered to pay millions in damages to the victims’ families.
Following Simpson’s death on April 10, 2024, Goldman’s family reflected on losing out on “true accountability” in a statement shared on social media. “The news of Ron’s killer passing away is a mixed bag of complicated emotions and reminds us that the journey through grief is not linear. For three decades we tirelessly pursued justice for Ron and Nicole, and despite a civil judgment and his confession in ‘If I Did It,’ the hope for true accountability has ended,” their statement began.
“We will continue to advocate for the rights of all victims and survivors, ensuring our voices are heard both within and beyond the courtroom,” the statement continued. “And despite his death, the mission continues; there’s always more to be done. Thank you for keeping our family, and most importantly Ron, in your hearts for the last 30 years.”
For more about OJ Simpson, you can read his 2008 memoir, If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer
. Written by Simpson and told in his own words, the book takes readers through the former NFL star’s famous murder trial after the brutal 1995 murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, at her home in Brentwood, California. In the book, Simpson reveals how he would have committed the murders, under the pretense that his confession was “hypothetical.” A new edition of the book was published in 2007 and included essays written by members of the Goldman family, a member of the Goldman family legal team, and Simpson’s ghostwriter, revealing more details about his murder trial and his legal issues after Brown and Goldman’s murder. Journalist Barbara Walters described the memoir as “one of the most chilling things I have ever read.”
