A federal judge prohibited O.J. Simpson from using money he may have received from a canceled book deal and TV interview in which he reportedly told a hypothetical tale of how he would have killed his ex-wife and her friend Ronald Goldman.
U.S. District Judge Manuel Real issued the order Wednesday, freezing the money during a hearing about a lawsuit filed last month by Goldman’s father. It remains in effect until a Jan. 24 hearing.
The federal lawsuit accuses Simpson of “fraudulent conveyance” and alleges that he created a shell corporation called Lorraine Brooke Associates last March that received at least $1.1 million.
The suit contends the company was created to hide money from the book and TV deal so the Goldman family could not seize any of it to satisfy a 1997 wrongful death lawsuit judgment. With interest, that judgment is estimated at $38 million.
Simpson was acquitted of criminal charges in the 1994 killings of former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
The latest lawsuit seeks about $1.1 million plus punitive damages, although Goldman family attorney Jonathan Polak said he did not know how much money Lorraine Brooke Associates currently had in its account. He called the order preventing transfer or use of the money a first step to determining the figure. Otherwise, it would be a “moving target” because Simpson could move the money, Polak said.
A call to Simpson’s attorney, Yale Galanter, was not immediately returned Thursday.
Simpson has said that he spent the proceeds he received as part of the deal. The book, titled “If I Did It” and scheduled to come out Nov. 30, was never released by News Corp.-owned HarperCollins and the TV interview never aired. News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch called off the project on Nov. 20, apologizing for “any pain that this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson.”
News Corp. has said the company paid $880,000 to a third party in connection with the project.
Simpson has told The Associated Press that he took part in the project solely for personal profit and acknowledged that any financial gain was “blood money.”