Publishing Rights of O.J. Simpson Book to be Auctioned
In a rare twist in the controversial O.J. Simpson “If I Did It” book saga, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department was assigned earlier this week to conduct a book auction for publishing rights, according to Reuters.com.
The Sheriff’s Department is overseeing the auction–scheduled for April 17, because the original publisher, News Corp.-owned HarperCollins, has offices in the California capital according to Reuters.com.
According to Reuters, proceeds from the court-ordered auction will help satisfy a $33.5 million civil judgment rendered against Simpson in 1997 for the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.
The news of the auction comes five months after News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch ended plans to publish Simpson’s book which allegedly talks about how he could have committed the 1994 slayings had he been the one responsible for the murders.
Reuters reported “a Los Angeles judge ordered rights to the book put up for bid at the request of Goldman’s father, Fred Goldman, who originally condemned it as shameful exploitation, but whose campaign to collect on the civil judgment against Simpson has virtually ensured that ‘If I Did It’ will find its way into circulation.”