Crime And Criminals Blog - Crimes, criminals, scams and frauds.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Lawyers for the family of Ronald Goldman are strategizing about how to go after any money made by O.J. Simpson from his upcoming book and Fox TV interview to satisfy the multimillion-dollar civil judgment against the ex-football star.

"To my knowledge, it would not be exempt from our efforts to collect it," attorney Peter Haven of Los Angeles' Musick Peeler & Garrett said of whatever advance Simpson was paid and any royalties he may be entitled to from book sales. "We're in the process of figuring out how to proceed."

The book, "If I Did It," discusses hypothetically how Simpson would have committed the killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Haven represents Goldman's father, Fred Goldman.

Simpson was acquitted in 1995 of the murders. A civil jury later found him liable in a wrongful death case filed by the victims' families, but attempts to collect the $33.5 million award have been largely unsuccessful. Haven estimates the Goldman family's share of that judgment alone (about $19 million) has ballooned over the last decade to $38 million including interest.

Beverly Hills attorney Ira Friedman, who represented the Brown family in the civil suit and facilitated the auction of Simpson's belongings, including his Heisman trophy, to help satisfy the judgment, said it is possible to collect Simpson's profits from the book.