Simpson’s lawyer Malcolm LaVergne pledges that no money from estate will go toward repaying wrongful death judgment which now totals over $100 million
The executor named in O.J. Simpson’s will has pledged to make sure that the family of Ron Goldman — who were still owed over $100 million from Simpson following a wrongful death judgment — receives “zero, nothing” from Simpson’s estate.
Malcolm LaVergne, Simpson’s lawyer, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he was “flummoxed” that the football star-turned-accused murderer named him his “personal representative or the executor” in a will drawn up earlier this year amid Simpson’s cancer battle, but said he would take the job as executor “very seriously.”
That apparently includes preventing the Goldman family from seeing any of the money Simpson has owed them since 1997, when a civil trial jury awarded the Goldmans $33.5 million; with interest — and with Simpson only paying a small fraction of the penalty — the judgment owed has ballooned to over $100 million.
Following Simpson’s death, an attorney for the Goldmans said the family would examine the situation with lawyers and determine whether to pursue the money owed from Simpson’s estate, something LaVergne has promised he will fight at all costs.
“It’s my hope that the Goldmans get zero, nothing,” LaVergne told the Las Vegas 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.”
As Simpson’s final will was only filed on Friday, LaVergne said he “can’t make a predication right now as to what the value of the estate is.” The lawyer also revealed that Simpson was first diagnosed with prostate cancer “several years ago,” and though it went into remission, the cancer returned in recent months before Simpson died in hospice care at his Las Vegas-area ranch this week.
LaVergne added that Simpson would be cremated in the near-future, and that funeral arrangements were still pending.