By Canadian Press

Lawyer: OJ Simpson is golfing a lot, staying in Las Vegas

Jan 18, 2018 | 12:19 PM

LAS VEGAS — O.J. Simpson is not planning to move from Nevada to Florida like he told state parole officials before he was released in October from Nevada state prison, his Las Vegas lawyer said Thursday.

The 70-year-old former football hero, acquitted murder defendant and armed robbery inmate has not filed paperwork with parole officials to move to a different state, attorney Malcolm LaVergne said.

“Mr. Simpson has no immediate plans to return to Florida,” LaVergne told The Associated Press. “He’s very much enjoying his time here in Vegas. It’s January, he gets to play golf every day.”

A Nevada state parole and probation officer handling Simpson’s case did not immediately respond to messages, and Florida prisons spokeswoman Ashley Cook said her agency has not received documents from Simpson seeking interstate custody.

Simpson has been spotted in public in and around Las Vegas several times during the more than three months he has been living in a friend’s five-bedroom home in a gated and guard-patrolled community several miles (kilometres) from the Las Vegas Strip.

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He drew a crowd of selfie-seekers Jan. 7 at a Las Vegas bar and pizza shop during an NFL playoff game featuring one of his former teams, the Buffalo Bills.

An outing in November to a steakhouse and a lounge at the Cosmopolitan resort is in dispute, after officials ordered Simpson off the Las Vegas Strip property and prohibited him from returning.

LaVergne denies claims that Simpson was intoxicated or disruptive, and alleges in a Dec. 29 letter to hotel officials that the incident was a malicious and racially prejudiced effort to embarrass Simpson and jeopardize his parole status.

The Cosmopolitan has not responded, company spokeswoman Samantha Grimes said Thursday.

Simpson has earned almost eight months of good time credit since his release from prison, bumping up his expected release from parole to Jan. 18, 2022, from the original Sept. 29, 2022.

He was released to parole Oct. 1 after nine years in prison for leading five men, including two with guns, in a September 2007 confrontation with two sports collectibles dealers at a Las Vegas casino hotel.

Simpson insisted he only wanted to retrieve personal mementoes and items stolen from him following his acquittal in Los Angeles in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.

Simpson was found liable for the killings in 1997 and ordered by a California civil court jury to pay $33.5 million to victims’ families.

David Cook, a lawyer continuing to pursue payment for Goldman’s father, Fred Goldman, said this week that with interest accruing daily, the total amount owed his client now is nearly $71 million.

Cook is asking a California judge Jan. 30 to let Goldman claim any money Simpson makes from celebrity appearances or the sale of autographs and memorabilia.

Simpson’s attorney in that case, Ronald Slates, declined comment on Wednesday.

LaVergne denied Simpson has income beyond what he termed a modest NFL pension. He said Simpson has no intention of paying the Goldman judgment.

“He’s publicly said he’s never willingly going to pay them a dime,” the lawyer said. “He doesn’t have any income to pay. This is all about publicity.”

LaVergne added: “Everything going on about Mr. Simpson now is about publicity.”

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This version corrects the last name of the lawyer in the last sentence, LaVergne not Lavergne

Ken Ritter, The Associated Press