[url]http://www.cnn.com/2001/LAW/12/04/simpson.search/index.html[/url]
FBI, DEA, local authorities search O.J.
Simpson's house
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- A two-year investigation into money laundering and drug distribution led federal and
local authorities Tuesday morning to the home of NFL football legend O.J.
Simpson.
Simpson, who has not been indicted or arrested, cooperated with FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and Miami-Dade County authorities as they searched his home under a federal search warrant that remained sealed. The search was in
connection with "Operation X," an investigation into the distribution of Ecstasy, the
laundering of $800,000 and "signal theft" -- the distribution of fraudulent satellite
access cards.
Twelve people have been charged in connection with the allegations, and 10 of those have been arrested.
FBI agents would not say what they were looking for in Simpson's home or why they had obtained a search warrant, but sources said that federal authorities areasking for computer and satellite equipment.
Sources on the scene said they would be removing some material from the house but did not say what.
Simpson greeted the agents when they arrived in the early morning hours, and his lawyer arrived some hours later. Both left around 8:30 a.m. as the media and
onlookers crowded the surrounding area, where officials continued their search.
In October, Simpson was found not guilty on charges stemming from a December 2000 traffic altercation with another motorist in the Miami area.
In a sensationalized trial six years ago, the former football star was acquitted of murder charges in the bloody 1994 slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, who were found stabbed to death outside her Los
Angeles home.
He was later found liable for their deaths in a civil trial and was ordered to pay $33.5
million in damages. Simpson moved to the Miami area last year.
-- From CNN Correspondent Mark Potter