OJ Simpson has been cremated at a private gathering of friends and family in downtown Las Vegas, according to the executor of his estate.
The disgraced American Football great, infamously acquitted of murdering his wife and her male friend following a sensational trial in 1995, died last week at the age of 76 following a battle with cancer.
Attorney Malcolm LaVergne, Simpson's lawyer of 15 years, said was cremated at a small gathering on Wednesday at the Palm Downtown Mortuary & Cemetery, exactly a week after his death.
"I went there and saw him right before he was placed in [the crematorium],” Mr LaVergne said. "I can tell you other people were there for Mr Simpson," he added, declining to disclose who they were except to describe them as relatives and friends.
He said a private "celebration of [Simpson’s] life is being contemplated" for friends and family at a later date. Simpson's cremated remains "will be in the possession of his children to do with as they see fit, pursuant to his wishes," the lawyer said.
Mr LaVergne said he was just beginning to sort out Simpson's estate, which he said includes a sum of money of "less than five figures" in a Nevada bank account, household furnishings and golf clubs.
Any outstanding legal judgments against Simpson are next to last in line among any claims that get paid from what remains of his estate after a lengthy list of higher-priority obligations under Nevada law, including administrative costs, funeral expenses, medical bills from his last illness and any alimony and child support, Mr LaVergne said.
Simpson had lived in Las Vegas since he was paroled from prison in Nevada in 2017 after serving nine years for his conviction on charges of robbing and kidnapping two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel in 2007.
The former NFL star’s greatest notoriety stemmed from his acquittal in a sensational trial 12 years earlier of murder charges in the 1994 stabbing deaths of former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles.
The disgraced American Football great was cleared of murdering his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994 in the so-called "trial of the century”.
On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer.
— O.J. Simpson (@TheRealOJ32) April 11, 2024
He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren.
During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.
-The Simpson Family
Simpson at the outset of the case declared himself "absolutely 100 percent not guilty".
Prosecutors argued that he killed Nicole in a jealous fury, and they presented extensive blood, hair and fibre tests linking Simpson to the murders. The defence countered that the celebrity defendant was framed for killing his white wife, by racist white police.
The trial transfixed America. In the White House, President Bill Clinton left the Oval Office and watched the verdict on his secretary's TV.
Another jury later found him liable for the two deaths in a civil lawsuit, and ordered him to pay to pay $33.5 million in damages, most of which has never been collected.
Nicknamed The Juice, Simpson was one of the best and most popular athletes of the late 1960s and 1970s.
He won the Heisman Trophy as college football's top player - a running back at the University of Southern California, and went on to a record-setting career in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers.
He later parlayed his football stardom into a career as a sportscaster, advertising pitchman and Hollywood actor in films including the Naked Gun series.
In a post published on X on April 11, the Simpson family wrote: “On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer.“He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren.
“During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.”
Reacting to news of Simpson’s death, Mr Goldman’s father Fred Goldman told NBC News: "It’s just further reminder of Ron being gone all these years.
"It’s no great loss to the world. It’s a further reminder of Ron’s being gone."
Alan Dershowitz, one of the top lawyers who represented Simpson at his murder trial, told NBC News: “I'm upset that he died."I got to know him fairly well during the trial. It was one of the most divisive trials in American history along racial lines. He'll always be remembered for the Bronco chase, for the glove, and for the moment of acquittal."
