Goldmans Get O.J. Book Rights
If I Did It just might become Confessions of a Double Murderer.
That's the title the family of murder victim Ronald Goldman was hoping to adopt for O.J. Simpson's never-published hypothetical tell-all—and it could happen, now that the Goldmans own the rights to the scuttled manuscript.
Having always viewed Simpson's plan for a book and interview with HarperCollins imprint ReganBooks as a confession, rather than a what-if scenario, the Goldmans plan to rename the book and shop it around, the family's attorney, David Cook, said Monday.
"Ron Goldman LLC will own Simpson's name, likeness, signature and story and will hawk it to satisfy this terrible judgment," Cook told the Associated Press. "Justice has arrived in Miami."
The Goldmans, who sued Simpson last year, accusing him of setting up a bogus corporation to hide his book proceeds from them, acquired the rights to If I Did It on Monday as part of a settlement reached with the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee who is currently in charge of Simpson's Florida-based company, Lorraine Brooke Associates.
Simpson has been doing everything in his power to keep them from collecting any substantial portion of the $33.5 million wrongful-death verdict they and the family of Nicole Brown Simpson were awarded by a civil jury in 1997, the Goldmans alleged.
The book rights were supposed to have been auctioned off in April, but the sale was canceled when Lorraine Brooks—which struck the reported $800,000 deal with HarperCollins parent News Corp. for Simpson last fall—filed for bankruptcy four days before the auction. Per the AP, at least $630,000 was transferred from the publisher to Lorraine Brooke, money that Simpson has said was spent almost immediately on bills and taxes.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gerald Rosenberg had ordered in March that any proceeds from the sale be turned over to the Goldmans.
Meanwhile, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jay Cristol ruled last month that Lorraine Brooks was a shell corporation, purely a means for Simpson to stash his book dough. And, even though Simpson's oldest daughter, Arnelle, was identified as being the head of the Miami company, it should be considered as belonging to Simpson, Cristol said.
In exchange for the full rights to the book, the Goldmans must pay the bankruptcy trustee 10 percent of the first $4 million in gross proceeds and an unspecified percentage of all proceeds—if any—after that, according to the terms of the settlement.
Simpson's attorney, Yale Galanter, said, however, that the trustee didn't have the right to settle away the rights on his client's behalf.
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