OJ Simpson sits at his arraignment in Superior Court in Los Angeles on July 22, 1994. Photo / AP

OJ Simpson’s eye-watering debt to Nicole Brown’s family

Author: Bang Showbiz,
Publish Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2024, 4:31PM

OJ Simpson is said to have died owing more than US$100 million ($168m) to the families of his butchered ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman.

The former NFL player, dubbed “The Juice”, died on Wednesday, April 10, aged 76 after a prostate cancer fight.

An attorney chasing the missing cash has now said Simpson passed away without giving “penance” to the slaughtered pair’s families after he was ordered to pay them millions of dollars in compensation when he was found liable for their deaths in a civil case, following his acquittal in 1995 in a criminal trial.

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.”

He added about hoping to find cash in Simpson’s estate: “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.

OJ Simpson and his ex-wife Nicole Brown. Photo / Getty Images

“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.”

Simpson was arrested in 1994 for the murders of Brown, 35, and waiter Goldman, 25, at her Los Angeles home and was sensationally acquitted after an 11-month trial in which his US$50,000-a-day, nine-strong “Dream Team” line-up of defence attorneys argued police mishandled DNA evidence.

Even though Simpson was spared jail, a separate civil trial jury found the former NFL player-turned actor liable for the deaths in 1997 and ordered him to pay US$33.5 million to their families.

The Goldman family had been pursuing the money up to the point of Simpson’s death after reportedly only receiving US$123,000.

Debt collection attorney David Cook who is working for Goldman’s dad said the debt with interest has now grown to more than US$100m.

Simpson was living in a US$3.6m, five-bedroom house while he battled cancer.

In 2017, it was alleged he had transferred money to his children Sydney, 38, and Justin Simpson, 35, to avoid payment of his civil compensation debt, but they deny the claim.