According to court documents filed Friday, November 14, in Clark County District Court in Nevada, the executor in the case, Malcolm LaVergne O.J. Simpson Estate, accepting claims from Goldman Sachs creditors in the amount of $57,997,858.12, plus accumulated judgment interest. The settlement amount is roughly half of what Goldman Sachs originally sought when it filed its claim in July 2024, which initially sought more than $117 million.
The agreement stems from a 1997 civil trial verdict in which Simpson was found liable for wrongful death. Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpsonthe ex-wife of a former NFL star. A civil jury found Simpson responsible for the June 1994 death and ordered him to pay millions of dollars in damages, but the money went largely unpaid during Simpson's lifetime.
Lavigne's acceptance marks a dramatic reversal from his initial stance following Simpson's death from cancer in April 2024. Initially, the attorney admitted he expected Goldman's family to receive “zero, nothing” from the massive verdict, but later changed course. “I can tell you in advance that Fred Goldman's claims will be accepted,” Lavigne talks about Ron's father.
The tragic events that sparked the decades-long legal saga occurred on June 12, 1994, when 25-year-old Ron Goldman and 35-year-old Nicole Brown Simpson were found stabbed to death outside Brown Simpson's Los Angeles home. Goldman Sachs has been returning the sunglasses that Brown Simpson's mother left at a restaurant where he worked when he was killed.
Simpson was acquitted of murder in what became known as the “trial of the century,” a verdict that shocked millions of television viewers around the world. However, Goldman Sachs and the Brown family filed a civil lawsuit and won a $33.5 million settlement in 1997. That amount more than doubled in nearly three decades as interest accrued, but much of the money remained unrecovered during Simpson's lifetime.
The reality of payments presents a sobering challenge. Simpson's entire estate is worth between $500,000 and $1 million, creating a huge gap between admitted debt and available assets. Lavigne told TMZ The estate plans to pay as much as possible while continuing to auction off the items, some of which have been stolen.
Lavigne rejected the claims of most other creditors and accepted only those of Fred Goldman and the IRS. The IRS debt will be distributed first to estate assets, and a separate California claim of $636,945 is also pending.
Despite their symbolic victory, the Goldman family faces the stark reality that they will receive only a fraction of the recognized verdict. David Cooklawyer Fred Goldmancaptured the family's long struggle when he said Simpson “died without remorse. He didn't want to give Fred a dime, a nickel, never, anything, ever.”
The estate's executor said he would continue to work with Goldman Sachs to calculate a more accurate interest amount based on the approved amount. Lavigne also plans to ask the court to award Goldman Sachs administrative fees for his advice on how to manage the estate, a sign of a partnership that has developed between the two parties.
As probate proceedings continue, the settlement represents the closest Fred Goldman has come to a financial resolution in the three years he has been held accountable for his son's death. While the actual amount paid will be significantly less than the $58 million admitted, the estate's acceptance of the claim marks a turning point in one of America's most enduring legal saga.
