The attorney and executor of O.J. Simpson's estate has reversed his previous statement that he would reject settlement claims from Ron Goldman's family and Nicole Brown's family, who were awarded millions in a civil judgment that was never fully paid.

Malcolm LaVergne, a Nevada-based lawyer, defended Simpson, the former NFL star and acquitted murder defendant who was famously found not guilty in the deaths of Goldman and Brown, from 2009 until his death last week from prostate cancer, as CBS News reported.

Announcement of Death

Simpson's will was filed in Clark County court, formally naming LaVergne as executor of his estate. Simpson's family had announced his death the day before.

Shortly after Simpson's will was filed on Friday, LaVergne informed the Las Vegas-Review Journal that he planned to fight the Goldmans for the unpaid payment.

"It's my hope that the Goldmans get zero, nothing," LaVergne said in controversial comments to the newspaper. "Them specifically. And I will do everything in my capacity as the executor or personal representative to try and ensure that they get nothing."

Since then, the attorney appears to have reversed course. On Monday, LaVergne told The Hollywood Reporter that he wanted to retract the remarks, and he subsequently confirmed the change in a statement to CBS News.

Attorney's Statements

"That 'zero, nothing' remark to a local reporter was harsh and in response to what an attorney for Fred Goldman said (within an hour of notification of OJ's death), not Fred Goldman himself.

"Mr. Goldman's personal post-OJ death remarks were non-offensive and understandable given the circumstances," LaVergne stated in the statement.

Simpson was acquitted in 1995 of the heinous murders of Brown, his ex-wife, and Ron Goldman, her friend, following a highly contentious criminal case known as "the trial of the century."

Guilty Verdict

A California jury found Simpson liable for their murders in a civil judgment many years later, ordering him to pay $33.5 million in damages to the families of Brown and Goldman.

Even after Simpson was freed in 2017 from the Nevada prison where he had served nine years for various criminal charges, the bill was never fully paid.

Fred Goldman, Ron Goldman's father, has spent the last 30 years relentlessly seeking justice for his son's murder.

In an interview with NBC News, he reacted to Simpson's death, stating that it was "no great loss to the world" and focusing on his child.

"The only thing I have to say is it's just further reminder of Ron being gone all these years," Fred Goldman said. "It's no great loss to the world. It's a further reminder of Ron's being gone."