OJ's 'Confession' Cash Given To Victim's Family

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 6-17-2007 | Jacqui Goddard

[blam]

O J's 'confession' cash given to victim's family

By Jacqui Goddard in Miami, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:56am BST 17/06/2007

A judge has awarded the publishing rights of O J Simpson's purportedly "hypothetical" murder confession to the family of one of his alleged victims.

Relatives of Ron Goldman, who was stabbed to death in Los Angeles in June 1994 with Simpson's ex-wife Nicole, plan to have the account on bookshelves within weeks, under the title Confessions of a Double Murderer - or, more simply, I Did It.

OJ Simpson tried to hide profits

The book, in which Simpson chillingly theorised about how he would have slaughtered the pair, while insisting he is innocent, was to be published last year by Rupert Murdoch's imprint HarperCollins, entitled If I Did It.

But it was cancelled after an outcry led by the victims' relatives, who complained the disgraced actor and American football star would profit from the venture. "That is blood money and it is evil and disgusting," complained Denise Brown, Nicole's sister.

Though Simpson was acquitted of the murders at a criminal trial in 1995, he was found liable for the deaths by a civil jury in 1997 and ordered to pay the families a combined $33.5 million (£17 million) in damages. They have not received a penny.

Now a judge has found Simpson deliberately tried to hide profits he made from the book, principally his $630,000 (£320,000) advance, in a shell company run by one of his daughters to avoid it being put towards the settlement. The company was "clearly established to perpetuate a fraud", said American Bankruptcy Judge Jay Cristol in Miami.

The publishing rights will now be auctioned off by an independent trustee on behalf of the Goldmans. The family will get millions of dollars after their 10-year crusade for financial justice.

"This ruling ensures that Mr Simpson will never see another dime from this book," said Paul Battista, a lawyer for the Goldman family.

After If I Did It was pulped last year, Newsweek ran excerpts of its contents. The magazine said Simpson described, in what he called a "fictional" account, how "something went horribly wrong" during an altercation with his ex-wife. "Simpson writes that when he regains control of himself, he realises he is drenched in blood and holding a knife. Nicole and Goldman are dead."

[kcvl]

A judge already ordered the bankrupt company owned by Simpson’s children to turn over any copies of the book in which the former NFL star explains how he might have committed the killings of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

Goldman’s family wants to rename the book Confessions of a Double Murderer and sell it to collect part of the $33.5 million they won nearly a decade after a civil jury found Simpson liable for Goldman’s death.

But the Goldmans’ case has been snarled with canceled depositions and other hurdles.

Goldman attorneys have given up trying to depose O.J. Simpson after he canceled at the last minute two weeks ago. Goldman attorney Paul Battista said the Simpsons have failed to comply with court orders, including turning over copies of the book.

“They simply don’t want to play by the rules,” Battista said. “I’ve never seen as much contempt of court as I’ve seen in this case with the debtor.”

Simpson’s oldest daughter, Arnelle, is named as the head of Lorraine Brooke Associates, which owns the book’s rights.

Arnelle Simpson’s attorney, Kendrick Whittle, said his client does not have copies of the book. He said Goldman family attorneys were present when a trustee took her deposition and she should not be forced to “sit there and explain her life story in front of a camera,” again.

But U.S. Bankruptcy Judge A. Jay Cristol ordered Arnelle Simpson and an attorney for her father to give depositions by Friday, when a hearing is supposed to start.

The attorney, Leonardo Starke, is believed to be holding about $3,500 for Simpson in a client trust account in Florida, where the former NFL star lives.

[stephenjohnbanker]

Good question.