The family of Ron Goldman has bought
the rights to O.J. Simpson's faux memoir If I Did It from the bankruptcy trustee in Florida. The Goldmans have changed the name of the book to Confessions of a Double Murderer and are shopping the book to publishers.
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.
Apparently this story isn't going away anytime soon. The question is: will anyone buy this book? And will any publisher want to publish it?
