Drawing $25,000 a Month

O.J. Simpson has been drawing $25,000 a month from his profit-sharing pension account and could continue doing so for the rest of his life without turning a penny of it over to satisfy the $33.5-million civil judgment against him, lawyers on both sides said Thursday.

Attorneys involved in the continuing efforts to find and seize Simpson’s assets spent Thursday, the third anniversary of the slayings of Ronald Lyle Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson, cross-examining Simpson’s longtime attorney and business manager, Skip Taft, the first person to give an accounting of Simpson’s financial picture.

Testifying under oath and behind closed doors, Taft said Simpson has in excess of $3.2 million in his largest trust account, attorneys for the Goldman family said. In other trust accounts, Simpson has more than $1 million, the Goldman lawyers told reporters after the proceedings.

Ronald P. Slates, a debtor / creditor attorney representing Simpson in the proceedings, said that after taxes, Simpson actually gets closer to $16,000 monthly from his pension fund.

But because state law shields pension accounts from creditors, Simpson might not have to turn any of that money over to the Goldman and Brown families, the lawyers for both sides said.

“He can do almost anything,” said Goldman attorney Peter Csato. “He can use it for living expenses, he can buy anything he wants for himself.”

In fact, the only money that might eventually go to the two families are proceeds that will come from a Sheriff’s Department sale of possessions seized in March from Simpson’s Rockingham estate. Those items--some of which Simpson’s legal team is arguing are also exempt--have been appraised at between $500,000 and $700,000, the Goldman lawyers said.

Two separate hearings over the next two weeks will determine what possessions and pension funds Simpson is entitled to shield from his creditors.

“There are some exceptions to the exemptions, and we’ll be working on those,” said Goldman attorney Peter Gelblum.

Simpson’s $300,000-a-year income is from his enterprise Orenthal Productions. Goldman’s attorneys dismissed Simpson’s NFL pension, which would amount to a few thousand dollars a month, as insignificant.

Along with many other valuables, Simpson’s Heisman Trophy has never been recovered. Simpson said under oath last month that he does not know what happened to the trophy, which Csato said has been appraised at $400,000.

Taft also said he did not know the whereabouts of the Heisman: “I’m only the business manager,” he told reporters. “I don’t deal in sports trophies.”

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A civil trial jury found Simpson liable for the June 12, 1994, deaths of his ex-wife and her friend. A criminal court jury acquitted Simpson of murder.

Gelblum said Taft was only slightly more helpful than Simpson, who testified at a June hearing that he knew almost nothing about his own financial affairs.

“[Taft] is giving the most limited answers he can give,” Gelblum said. “He’s purporting not to understand simple English terms.”

Simpson’s yearly income is still not enough to pay the mortgage on his Rockingham home, his attorney said. The bank that holds title to the home is expected to give notice next week about its impending sale.

And although the Goldmans, Browns and even Taft have liens against that property, the bank would be the first creditor paid--most likely wiping out the other claims, Csato said.

Attorneys also learned a bit about what Simpson is doing with money he is earning now. A $50,000 June payment for a German television station interview, for example, was placed in one of Taft’s trust accounts. Of those funds, Slates said he eventually received about $30,000 of that money.