O.J. Simpson’s attorney has walked back his earlier plan to block the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman from receiving the $33.5 million wrongful death judgment awarded to them decades ago.
Malcolm LaVergne previously admitted he wanted the Goldman family to get “zero, nothing” from the civil judgment, even saying he would “do everything in my capacity as the executor or personal representative to try and ensure that they get nothing.”
But according to The Hollywood Reporter, LaVergne has now shifted his position. The lawyer told the outlet that he intends to honor Fred Goldman’s claim. “I can tell you in advance, Fred Goldman’s claim will be accepted,” he said. “And his claim will be handled in accordance with Nevada law.”
LaVergne explained that his earlier comments stemmed from frustration after hearing Goldman’s attorneys speak out immediately following Simpson’s death.
“Within an hour of knowing that O.J. died, he started talking shit,” LaVergne said. “My advocate instinct was, ‘Oh, you’re gonna keep shitting on him even after he’s dead?’ … ‘Fine, you know? You get nothing.’ Those were my remarks then. But I backtracked, and they were pretty harsh remarks. And now I’m going in the other direction.”
He added that he plans to be “hypertransparent” with both families moving forward. “I’m going to show my homework before I even have to give it to the courts and see what we can do in terms of getting this estate in order.”
Fred Goldman revealed in 2022 that his family had never received any money from Simpson following the 1997 civil trial. “It’s a ridiculous number, none of which has ever appeared,” Fred said at the time. “[Simpson] never paid one single penny. Anything that we were able to take was through our own efforts of taking things away from him.”
