Little Learned of Simpson Assets

Where’s the Heisman Trophy?

O.J. Simpson, under oath Thursday for the first time since a civil jury found him liable for the June 12, 1994, murders of Ronald Lyle Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson, said he didn’t know.

Nor did he know the whereabouts of more than 100 other never-found valuable items, which a Santa Monica court ordered seized to satisfy part of the $33.5-million civil judgment against him.

Lawyers for Fred Goldman, Ronald Goldman’s father, spent all day Thursday grilling Simpson behind closed doors in a jury room of Santa Monica Superior Court.

But they later told Judge David D. Perez that they are no closer to finding out how much money Simpson still has, where it is and what he did with the valuables sheriff’s deputies were not able to find when they seized hundreds of items from Simpson’s Brentwood estate six weeks ago.

That’s because Simpson said he doesn’t know, the frustrated attorneys complained.

“He claims not to know how much money he’s not drawing, claims not to know where the money goes, claims not to know where the banks are, claims not to know how much he spends, claims not to know who writes checks for him,” Goldman’s attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, told reporters during one break. “[He] claims not to know anything, period.”

Simpson, talkative and dressed casually in a beige shirt and slacks, pantomimed his golf swing in the courtroom, hallways and adjacent courtyard as he chatted with reporters.

As for the missing items, he repeated in the courtyard what Goldman’s lawyers said he told them: When he returned home from jail in October 1995 after being acquitted of criminal charges, and even last week when he came home from a trip to the Bahamas, his house seemed “less congested.”

“Things were missing,” he said.

Thursday’s proceedings were contentious from the start. Just minutes after the group retired to a jury room for the closed session, Petrocelli marched out with his first objection: Simpson attorney Ronald Slates was instructing Simpson not to answer any questions about how much he had paid his lawyers and where the money was coming from, saying the information was privileged.

“We’re not getting very far,” Petrocelli said.

Perez briskly sent them back into the private session, ordering Simpson to answer the question.

It was much the same throughout the day, with Goldman’s attorneys complaining that Simpson was evading his questions and that his lawyers were refusing to produce relevant documents.

In one exchange, Petrocelli objected that Simpson had not turned over his phone records for the previous three years, as requested.

Simpson attorney Ronald P. Slates told Perez that he did not believe they were relevant to tracking Simpson’s wealth.

“I think the relevance is to find out who he’s talking to--if he’s talking to some bank in the Cayman Islands,” Perez said, and ordered Simpson to produce the records.

Petrocelli charged that Simpson has concealed his assets and is lying about knowing where they are. “Perjury is up to the district attorney,” he said.

Because the proceedings were closed, and held outside the formal structure imposed on both the criminal and civil trials, the day was marked by a series of asides, from both parties, to the gaggle of reporters assembled outside.

At each break, the attorneys--and Simpson--had plenty to say. Another of Goldman’s lawyers, Peter Gelblum, described how the group burst out laughing when Simpson said he did not know the whereabouts of the Heisman.

At another break, as reporters were listening to Petrocelli, Simpson stood on top of a concrete bench in the courtyard outside Perez’s chambers and loudly insisted he had been forthcoming.

“Nothing but the truth, the whole truth so help me, Jesus Christ,” Simpson said over Petrocelli’s remarks. “And I am a Christian.”

Simpson offered other comments, as well, as he strode about the courtyard.

* On Marcia Clark’s new book, which he said he has not read: “Everything in Marcia’s book is not honest, but I hope she makes a fortune.”

* On reports he may move to Florida, where bankruptcy laws could shield some of his assets: “Nowhere, no place. Anyone who says I am [moving] is a liar.”

* On a verbal confrontation with Fred Goldman that reportedly occurred in closed session Thursday: “He’s upset. The man lost his son.”

The parties are expected to return to the table today to complete the questioning.