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These funds, which were established by Simpson's financial adviser, Leroy ("Skip") Taft, back in the early 1980s, cannot be touched by outsiders even if Simpson files for bankruptcy. Yet they can easily be turned into cash for Simpson's own use prior to retirement. He can borrow from his retirement funds, and has already done so on several occasions. Simpson can use these funds to buy real estate, something he has done repeatedly in the past. And the pensions begin to pay off their untouchable annuities five years from now, when Simpson turns 55.
But that is not all he has. Untouchable too are his $2,000 monthly pension checks from the N.F.L. and the Screen Actors Guild, which he will start drawing on in five years, and half a million dollars, which will ultimately land in the estate of his children and which will be available to pay expenses such as schooling. He owns a small equity interest in his multimillion-dollar home, but that is expected to be consumed by legal fees. Defense lawyer Baker and moneyman Taft have already slapped liens on it. Simpson also has a life-insurance policy, believed to have a substantial cash value, that would be available to pay him an annuity. It too is beyond the reach of the plaintiffs.
All that appears to be left for the plaintiffs to seize is Simpson's $250,000 San Francisco condo, where his mother Eunice lives and which he apparently has left unencumbered and vulnerable; a $213,000 real estate lien, of which he is the beneficiary; miscellaneous home furnishings; and whatever money he may have in bank accounts. The plaintiffs can attach up to 25% of his nonretirement income too, though he earns virtually nothing now, since most of his traditional sources have dried up. Even if the Goldmans and Browns succeed in gathering these modest amounts, it may seem cold comfort from a man they are convinced killed their children.
In spite of this residual wealth, Simpson has seen the bulk of his fortune eaten away by an estimated $3.5 million in legal fees for the criminal, child-custody and civil trials. He has had to pay taxes of more than $1 million, continuing overhead of more than $100,000 a year on his Rockingham mansion and interest payments of $200,000 a year on outstanding loans.
To meet these demands, Simpson has liquidated almost everything he owned before his arrest in June 1994: condominiums in New York City and California; property in Mexico; his 50% interest in a string of HoneyBaked Ham franchises; even his Ferrari Mondial and the infamous Ford Bronco. What he hasn't sold outright he has mortgaged to the hilt: he borrowed $3 million against his Rockingham home and used a Warhol serigraph of himself as security for a loan he took from his children's estate. He has tapped his homeowner's insurance to pay for his defense in the civil trial.