Defiant O.J. vows to put playing ahead of paying

A defiant O. J. Simpson has vowed he will never pay the families of murder victims Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman a penny of the US$33.5 million ($47 million) damages they were awarded.

The former football star-turned actor said in a television interview: "I've said this so many times ... If I have to work to pay them, I won't work ... I'll just play golf every day."

Simpson was acquitted after a highly publicised, year-long criminal trial of killing his ex-wife and her friend Goldman in 1994.

But in 1997, a civil jury found him liable for their deaths.

The families have received only a fraction of the multimillion-dollar judgment despite concerted efforts to trace Simpson's assets.

In a court in Santa Monica this week, Simpson's long-time friend Alfred Beardsley was asked what he knew of Simpson's assets.

He was ordered to produce two press credentials issued to Simpson to cover the 1984 Olympics for a television network.

Beardsley told Judge Gerald Rosenberg he had the press cards in a safe-deposit box and did not know how much they were worth.

The hearing was part of efforts by Goldman's father, Fred Goldman, to force Simpson to pay the money.

His lawyer, Peter Csato, said

he had subpoenaed Beardsley in the hope of learning whether Simpson was hiding income.

Simpson is living in Florida on US$25,000 a month from a football pension and an annuity that is exempt from court judgments.

In February 1999 a court-ordered auction of Simpson memorabilia fetched about US$430,000 that was to go towards paying the civil judgment.

But only "a fraction" went to the families, said Michael Brewer, the lawyer for Ron Goldman's mother, Sharon Rufo. The rest paid the costs of the auction and lawyers' fees, he said.

Brewer will question Beardsley again at another hearing next month.

"I think there's been some information that Simpson may not have been above board in relation to his business assets," he said.

"He's living in Florida in a relatively nice, comfortable lifestyle. He's got to step up to the plate and settle these judgments."

It is not the first time lawyers have tried to collect on the debt. About seven months ago the Goldman family hired a lawyer to recover money they thought Simpson was getting for autographs at a signing session in St Louis, Missouri. Simpson claimed he did not charge for his signature.

Brewer said the families believed Simpson earned money and hid it away.

-INDEPENDENT