Menendez brothers eyed $20M insurance payout after parents' murders, Jose's ex-business partner claims
Thirty years after Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, Jose's former business partner still questions what led to the killings.
In his new memoir, "Karmic Winds: Reflections from the 'Smartest Guy in Hollywood,'" Peter M. Hoffman recounts his rise in the entertainment industry, including his tenure as president and CEO of Carolco Pictures, the studio behind hits such as "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," "Basic Instinct" and the "Rambo" franchise.
Hoffman later served a federal prison sentence in connection with his convictions in a Louisiana film tax credit fraud case. He has continued to maintain his innocence and challenge those convictions. He was portrayed in Netflix's "Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story."
"To me, the devil came to Los Angeles in 1989," Hoffman told Fox News Digital. "Nobody came out unaffected by this terrible act."
Hoffman met Jose when the no-nonsense patriarch was an executive at RCA, which brought the boy band Menudo to English-speaking audiences. Years later, the group helped catapult Ricky Martin to global fame.
By the time Jose left RCA, Hoffman was running Carolco Pictures and looking for someone to lead the studio's video business. At the recommendation of entertainment attorney John Mason, he hired Jose. They worked closely together from 1986 until Jose's murder.
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"Jose was one tough character," Hoffman admitted. "He was very focused on his Cuban ancestry, very conservative. He had bought a house in Florida and was expecting to go back to Florida and run for the Senate. He had big dreams. He wanted to make a lot of money and then have a life in politics. That was his goal."
"He could be difficult because he had his way of doing everything, and he felt like he knew better than everybody," Hoffman shared. "It wasn’t always an easy ride. But I also had a high opinion of Jose and all his dealings. And of course, we didn’t really know about all the problems he had with his family until after the horrible murders."
Looking back, Hoffman believes there were early signs of trouble.
"I got a call sometime in 1988," Hoffman recalled. "It was Jose. He said, ‘I need to draw a couple of million dollars out of my deferred comp plan. I want to move from Calabasas to Beverly Hills so I can be closer to the office.’ I just said, ‘That’s all right with me.’ That’s when he bought the house on Elm Drive."
"It turned out he hadn’t been completely honest with me," said Hoffman.
"The real reason he had to do that was that Erik and Lyle had been caught breaking into their friends’ houses and stealing things," he said. "They had been caught by the police. Jose had to pay everybody off and get the hell out of dodge."
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On Aug. 20, 1989, Jose and his wife were gunned down with shotguns inside their home. Their sons called 911 and said their parents were killed by intruders.
"I remember waking up the next morning, and I got a call," said Hoffman. "It was grotesque. You have to understand that at the time, nobody knew it was the kids. The immediate suspicion was on Mario Kassar, chairman of Carolco Pictures, and me, that we were somehow behind this. All of a sudden, the suspicion is somehow this murder is connected to those bad guys at Carolco."
In the months following the murders, Lyle and Erik Menendez were not initially considered prime suspects. Instead, speculation centered on the possibility of a mob-style hit, fueled by Jose's connections in the entertainment industry and the execution-style nature of the killings. Rumors circulated that he had made enemies through business dealings, though investigators found no evidence linking him to organized crime.
In the book, Hoffman wrote that he felt "a cold chill run down my spine" after receiving a phone call following Jose’s murder. Lyle had asked when he and his brother could expect payment on his father’s $20 million life insurance policy. Hoffman told Fox News Digital that Jose didn’t complete a physical for the death benefit under the terms of his contract. Therefore, his beneficiaries weren’t entitled to a payout.
Hoffman said he later learned investigators discovered that Lyle had searched his father's computer and had seen the contract, along with the $20 million death benefit it appeared to promise.
"I’m not inside the head of Lyle Menendez," said Hoffman. "But he wanted that money. He was all over us about that money, and that was literally days after the murder. So to me, the story is a very simple one."
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"Their father was a disciplinarian," said Hoffman. "I don’t think he ever abused these kids. I’ll never believe that to the day I die that Jose Menendez did anything to those kids other than be a very tough Cuban disciplinarian, very tough on them in tennis, very tough on them about the way they were. He was a tough guy on himself. But whatever it was, they decided they had had enough."
Hoffman worked with Jose professionally but did not have firsthand knowledge of what occurred inside the family's home. His views are based on his personal experiences with Jose and his observations of the family from the outside. The brothers have long maintained that they acted after years of abuse.
In 1989, Erik confessed the killings to his psychologist, Dr. Jerome Oziel. The sessions with the brothers were later tape-recorded. Oziel’s mistress, Judalon Smyth, learned about the confessions and informed the police. The recordings and related evidence led to the 1990 arrest of Lyle, then 22, and Erik, 19. They were charged with first-degree murder.
In 1993, the brothers went to trial, each with a separate jury. Prosecutors argued that they killed their parents for financial gain. The brothers' attorneys did not dispute that the pair killed their parents but argued they acted in self-defense after years of alleged emotional and sexual abuse by their father.
During the trials, relatives and other witnesses testified about behavior they believed was consistent with abuse, while prosecutors argued the allegations were fabricated after the killings to avoid harsher punishment. The claims have remained one of the most contested aspects of the case.
Hoffman repeatedly said he does not believe the allegations.
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"I don’t care how many Kardashians talk about it, people write about it, or whatever is the current phase," Hoffman said. "[I believe] Jose Menendez never abused those kids. But Jose was tough on those kids. I’m sure they had plenty of complaints about Jose, but none of them justified this horrible crime."
"I haven’t seen his sons in years, but I always saw Lyle as really the driving force," Hoffman continued. "He was the guy who just knew what to do. With Erik, there was a weakness to him. Lyle came across as the perfect son who was always polite. But I came to believe that that was all a front. I didn’t know him. I’m not sure Jose even knew him."
In 1994, both juries deadlocked. The deadlock reflected significant disagreement among jurors over the brothers' motives and the credibility of their abuse claims. Some jurors later said they found portions of the defense case persuasive, while prosecutors maintained the killings were motivated by greed.
In 1995, the brothers’ retrial began, this time with a single jury. Much of the defense evidence about alleged sexual abuse was excluded during the second trial. In 1996, jurors convicted both brothers of first-degree murder. That year, they were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. For years, the brothers filed petitions for appeals that were denied.
Then in May 2025, the brothers became eligible for parole after a Los Angeles judge reduced their sentences from life without the possibility of parole to 50 years to life. It marked the closest they have come to freedom since their convictions.
Supporters of the brothers have argued that changing views about sexual abuse, trauma and juvenile offenders warranted a fresh review of their sentences. Others have maintained that the murders were primarily motivated by financial gain and that the convictions should stand.
In August 2025, the brothers were denied parole for three years, after which they will be eligible again.
"I completely agree with this new DA out here," said Hoffman. "He said he’s not against them being paroled, but they’ve got to come clean about what happened. And again, I don’t know these boys today. If they really had gone through a transformation, then that’s fine with me.
"They were kids. If they have gone through a transformation, truly, then great. But they’ve got to tell the truth about what happened."
Hoffman’s view remains one side of a debate that has continued for decades, with legal observers, family members and supporters of the brothers sharply divided over whether the abuse allegations were credible.
"I suppose maybe I should have known more about what was going on between Jose and his sons," said Hoffman. "I believe God exists, and I also believe the devil exists. And I believe there was this terrible evil that existed in that house that decided to act at that moment."