OJ Simpson has been cremated, no public memorial planned, estate lawyer says
OJ Simpson’s body was cremated on Wednesday and there is no public memorial service planned for the former NFL star-turned-convicted felon who died last week at the age of 76, according to his attorneys.
Lawyer Malcolm LaVergne, who is handling Simpson’s estate, told The Associated Press he was present, along with unspecified other people, for the morning cremation service at Palm Mortuary in downtown Las Vegas.
“I am able to verify that O.J. Simpson was cremated today,” LaVergne said shortly afterward. “Others were present, but I’m not disclosing who.”
LaVergne said Simpson’s ashes will be given to his children “to do with as they please, according to the wishes of their father.”
Simpson’s family gave a “hard no” to scientists asking to study the former running back’s brain to see if the ex-running back suffered from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), LaVergne told The Post exclusively last week.
Simpson died in Las Vegas on April 10 after a battle with prostate cancer.
LaVergne told The Associated Press Tuesday that he had visited Simpson just before Easter at a country club where the controversial celebrity was “awake, alert and chilling” sitting on a couch, drinking a beer and ”just catching up on the news.”
But Simpson’s condition dramatically deteriorated to the point where he only had the strength to ask for water by last week.
Simpson’s family tweeted on April 11 that Simpson “succumbed to his battle with cancer” and asked for privacy.
“You have to remember that they’ve shared OJ with the world their entire lives,” LaVergne said Tuesday of Simpson’s surviving adult children.
“And they have the added burden that he is one of the most famous people on the planet, and who is polarizing and who is surrounded by controversy,” LaVergne told AP.
His children from his first marriage — Arnelle Simpson, now 55, and Jason Simpson, 53 — and the children Simpson had with slain ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson: Sydney Simpson, 38, and Justin Simpson, 35, are the sole beneficiaries of his estate, LaVergne said.
The attorney said he is currently working on determining the value of the Heisman winner’s assets.
LaVergne has said he wants to make sure the family of Ron Goldman doesn’t get a penny from Simpson’s estate.
Goldman was a waiter and friend of Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. Both were murdered at her home in Los Angeles on June 12, 1994.
Simpson was acquitted of the murders during his sensational “trial of the century” but was found liable for their deaths in a 1997 civil case, which resulted in him owing the Brown and Goldman families a $33.5 million judgment.
LaVergne acknowledged that Simpson did not pay the majority of that money — but said he hopes the Goldmans don’t see a dime of Simpson’s estate.
“It’s my hope that the Goldmans get zero, nothing,” LaVergne told The Post. “Them specifically. And I will do everything in my capacity as the executor or personal representative to try and ensure that they get nothing.”
LaVergne estimates Simpson owes as much as $200 million, and told AP Simpson’s assets won’t amount to that.
He said he intends to meet with representatives of the Goldman and Brown families to “view my homework” with the Simpson estate, “with the caveat that if they believe something else is out there … they’re going to have to use their own attorneys, their own resources, to try and chase down that pot of gold.”
With Post wires
