The executor of O.J. Simpson's will plans to fight any payments to the families of his late ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman.
The former footballer - who died of cancer on Wednesday (10.04.24) aged 76 - was found not guilty of the pair's murders in 1995 but two years later, a separate civil trial jury found him liable for their deaths and he was ordered to pay out $33.5 million to their families, and the late 'Naked Gun' star's attorney, Malcolm LaVergne has vowed to "do everything in [his] capacity" to keep money out of heir hands.
Malcolm told the Las Vegas Review-Journal: "It's my hope that the Goldmans get zero, nothing. Them specifically. And I will do everything in my capacity as the executor or personal representative to try and ensure that they get nothing."
The lawyer, who had worked with O.J. since 2009, said he was "flummoxed" to be named the executor of the former Buffalo Bills player's estate and didn't know its current value.
He said: “I am flummoxed as to why he would name me as the personal representative or the executor, but he did. And it’s something I’m going to take very seriously.”
According to documents obtained by the outlet, O.J. wanted his last wishes to be administered “without litigation or dispute of any kind" and any beneficiary, heir or person who “sought to establish a claim on the will” to dispute it would receive one dollar “and no more in lieu of any claimed interest” in the will or its assets.
O.J. had reportedly only paid $123,000 of the $33.4 million balance of the compensation payments, with insiders previously claimed the controversial sportsman had ran a substantial system of cash-only business ventures.
A source told the New York Post newspaper's Page Six column: “He would sign anything except anything that had to do with the trial or murder. The stipulation was always that he had to be paid in cash.”
Another insider added: "With being paid everything in cash, there was no way to document how much money he had access to.”
And an attorney for Ron's family has vowed to fight for what they are owed.
Lawyer David Cook told the Daily Mail: “He died without penance. We don’t know what he has, where it is or who is in control.
“We will pick up where we are and keep going with it.
“Is there money to be had? Hopefully. Do I know exactly what it is? No, but we’ll figure that out soon.
“Ron Goldman is gone, murdered. We have to fight on for him.
“We’ve had this problem for a long, long time. It could be in a trust, it could be probate. It could be all gone.”