A polo tycoon who legally adopted his girlfriend in an apparent attempt to protect his fortune will still pay $46 million to the parents of the young man he killed in a drunken driving accident.
John Goodman, founder of the International Polo Club Palm Beach, agreed to shell out $23 million each to Scott Wilson's parents, Lili and William Wilson, according to ABC News. The settlement was revealed this week in court documents filed in Palm Beach County, the Palm Beach Post reported.
The Players Club -- where Goodman drank before getting behind the wheel -- will pay $6 million of the total amount.
Last month, Goodman, 48, was convicted of killing the Wilsons' 23-year-old son in 2010 in Wellington, Fla. He crashed his Bentley into Wilson's Hyundai after running a stop sign while driving drunk. The collision knocked Wilson's car into a canal, where the young man drowned.
Before the criminal and civil trials began, the air-conditioning fortune heir made headlines in October by legally adopting his 42-year-old girlfriend, Heather Ann Hutchins, as his daughter.
The move gave Hutchins a share of the $300-million trust already established for his two biological children. It was interpreted by critics as an attempt by Goodman to hold onto his wealth, because a judge ruled that the trust was off limits to the Wilsons, even if they won their lawsuit.
The adoption was challenged by Goodman's own family. Lawyers representing Goodman's teenaged children denounced the adoption and filed a lawsuit asking a judge to cut the new "sibling" out of the pot.
Goodman faces a 30-year sentence for the DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide convictions. His legal team, however, angled for a new trial this week by filing a motion arguing there was juror misconduct during the criminal trial, ABC News reported. An alternate juror told Goodman's attorneys that other jury members decided Goodman was guilty before the trial wrapped up.
In another motion, the lawyers asked for Goodman to be released from prison while he appeals the conviction. Goodman should be let out, the lawyers said according to WPBF, because a judge released Dalia Dippolito while she waited for a new trial. Dippolito was a Florida newlywed convicted of hiring an undercover policeman who posed as a hitman to murder her husband.