Shelly Sterling, the estranged wife of Donald Sterling, said the money he used to treat V Stiviano was their community property.The gifts include a house, luxury cars and stocks, and Mrs Sterling argued in her lawsuit that Ms Stiviano was essentially a gold digger who seduced her husband into providing money and gifts.
Ms Stiviano’s lawyer had argued the gifts were made when the Sterlings were separated and that Mrs Sterling could not seek them from a third party.
Ms Stiviano described herself as a one-time confidante, personal assistant and platonic companion of the 80-year-old billionaire real estate mogul. She said Mr Sterling chose to give her large sums of money and expensive gifts as gestures of his love and appreciation.
But Judge Richard Fruin Jr sided with Mrs Shelly, awarding her most of the nearly $3m (£2m) she had sought.
“Shelly is thrilled with this decision. It is a victory for the Sterling family to recover millions that Donald lavished on a conniving mistress,” said her lawyer, Pierce O’Donnell.
Last year, Mr Sterling was caught on tape making racially offensive remarks, causing him to be banned from the NBA and forcing him to sell the LA Clippers.
Mr Sterling had sought to dismiss the comments, which were recorded by Ms Stiviano, as a “lovers’ quarrel”, and insisted he is not a racist.
In the recording, Mr Sterling told Ms Stiviano, who is of mixed race, that he did not want her to bring black people to Clippers games.
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