article: V.Stiviano, the alleged mistress of Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who he showered with expensive gifts, has been ordered to pay his wife $2.6million. Los Angeles judge Richard Fruin Jr. awarded Shelly Sterling most of the nearly $3million she had sought. Lawyers for Sterling had claimed that money used to buy V. Stiviano a house, luxury cars and stocks was her community property the couple had acquired over six decades of marriage. Stiviano's lawyer had argued that the gifts were made when Donald and Shelly were separated and that Shelly Sterling couldn't seek them from a third party. Scroll down for video . Shelly Sterling has been awarded nearly all of the $3 million she had sought to be returned from V. Stiviano, who had argued that the gifts were made when Donald Sterling was separated from his wife . Tuesday's ruling comes nearly a year after Stiviano's recording of Donald Sterling making racially offensive remarks bounced him from the NBA and cost him team ownership. Shelly Sterling's lawyers used other recordings to show he bought Stiviano a house, a Ferrari and other things. In the recordings on Stiviano's iPhone, she and the 80-year-old billionaire are heard discussing how to shield gifts from his wife. 'The truth is that everything that I have, you've given me from your heart without me begging or asking or throwing myself all over you,' Stiviano said in snippet played in court. During the course of their 2 1/2 years together, Sterling gave her a Ferrari, a Bentley and a Range Rover, and paid the lion's share of a $1.8 million duplex. Sterling testified that he paid for the entire house, though Stiviano said she had contributed an unknown amount of money given to her in small bills by family members that she saved in a bedroom drawer. During the course of their 2 1/2 years together, Donald Sterling had given Stiviano a Ferrari, a Bentley and a Range Rover, and paid the lion's share of a $1.8 million duplex . Donald Sterling said Stiviano hadn't contributed '50 cents' to the house and, noting that Stiviano is part black and Hispanic, said she illegally got her name inserted into escrow documents by befriending Hispanic bank and escrow employees. Shelly Sterling filed the suit against Stiviano about a month before the recording of Donald Sterling telling Stiviano not to associate with black people created an uproar and led the NBA to ban him for life and fine him $2.5 million. In closing arguments, late last month, Shelly Sterling's lawyer had relied on the words of Miss Stiviano to show that the elderly billionaire was her sugar daddy. Testimony in Los Angeles Superior Court wasn't as clear-cut even after Sterling's lawyers went to great lengths to show that checks Donald Sterling drew from his real estate business ended up in accounts that financed most of Stiviano's $1.8 million Spanish-style duplex near Beverly Hills. While an accountant for Sterling conservatively estimated that Stiviano got more than $3.6 million in Sterling gifts that included a Ferrari and Paris shopping spree, O'Donnell said he would only seek return of the house and more than $1 million in cash, saying the lower figure lined up with Stiviano's own admissions on the witness stand, depositions and court filings. V. Stiviano, 32, pictured arriving at Los Angeles Superior court last month, painted two conflicting portraits of Donald Sterling, saying he was a kind, generous mentor and father figure to her but also a 'bigot' who was mean to others . Judge Richard Fruin Jr had noted earlier that there was no clear documentation that funds went from the Sterling family's real estate company to Stiviano's bank accounts. Defense lawyer Mac Nehoray reiterated that point in his closing argument. He attacked the credibility of witnesses, particularly Donald Sterling, who had suggested Stiviano got her name on the home title illegally. It was Stiviano who recorded the now-infamous conversation with Donald Sterling in which he berated her for associating with black people and urged her not to bring minorities with her to Clippers basketball games. In the furor sparked when the remarks were made public, the NBA banned Sterling from the league for life, and he was ultimately forced to sell the Clippers franchise he had owned for 33 years for a record $2 billion. Nehoray spent most of his argument trying to convince the judge that the law doesn't allow Shelly Sterling to go after a third party like Stiviano because of a breach of fiduciary duty by her husband. 'Say he gave $2,000 to a call girl,' Nehoray said. 'Mrs. Sterling can't go and try to get that money back. We know that's not how it works.' In her testimony, Stiviano testified that the 80-year-old billionaire real estate mogul spent far more time with her and members of her family during the two and a half years she spent as his personal assistant, driver and confidante than he did with his own wife and children. 'We were so interconnected on a level that was more spiritual. He became my everything and I became his all,' she said, though she repeated under oath that the relationship was never sexual in nature. Shelly Sterling, who accused Stiviano of fraud when she testified, painted her rival as a gold digger who seduced her husband into lavishing her with money and gifts and was now out to hurt him. Wife speaks: Shelly Sterling, estranged wife of former Los Angeles Clippers basketball team owner Donald Sterling, and her attorney Pierce O'Donnell arrive at Los Angeles Superior Court last month. Mrs Sterling painted Stiviano as a gold digger who seduced her husband into giving her cash and gifts . Stiviano, seen here outside the court during last month's trial, testified that tolerating Sterling's racist moments was 'part of the job' Platonic relationship: The 32-year-old repeatedly stated under oath that her relationship with the Clippers owner nearly five decades her senior was spiritual in nature . Stiviano never not disputed Donald Sterling's largesse, though she quibbled with the sums at stake and emphatically denied that she used sex to manipulate him. She repeatedly testified that Sterling tried to manipulate her. The apparent contradictions finally led Shelly Sterling's lawyer, Pierce O'Donnell, to confront Stiviano with the question: 'Who is the real Donald Sterling?' 'The real Donald Sterling is a con artist, a bigot ... he's mean, he's despicable,' Stiviano replied, before quickly adding that to her, he was 'kind, loving, sweet ... a mentor, a father. ... He treated me as he treated no one else.' She added that tolerating his racist moments was 'part of the job' that had its rewards in the way he treated her and her family. Stiviano broke down in tears as she described the Clippers owner showing up at the hospital when her brother needed a heart transplant and described how he appeared in court to support her adoption of two boys. In her testimony, Miss Stiviano claimed that she was not the only recipient of cash gifts from her octogenarian benefactor, and she named a male friend of Sterling's who accompanied them on trips to Dubai, Paris and Thailand. Shelly Sterling said outside court that the assertion was crazy, and she described the man as a longtime family friend who despises Stiviano. The judge allowed the testimony as Stiviano's lawyer tried to show where large, unexplained checks may have gone from Sterling's real estate company that his wife claims were used to pay for a $1.8million duplex, luxury cars, jewelry and shopping sprees for the woman Shelly Sterling asserts was his mistress. Stiviano said she saw cashier's checks given to the man for $800,000 for a 'so-called business deal' involving a property in Los Angeles and a check for $75,000 to reimburse him for the Dubai travel. Stiviano couldn't say if any of that money ended up in accounts identified as sources for the home purchase. She has denied that those were her bank accounts, and Sterling's lawyers couldn't make that connection. The 32-year-old witness said she had worked for Sterling's charity and spent about 12 hours a day with him over more than two years, driving him to view real estate or attending Clippers meetings and games together. She said he provided money, but it was not regular income — and that became a problem in late 2013 when she wanted a job. 'As long as you're with me side by side, I will take care of everything you need,' she said he assured her. But Stiviano became suspicious when he wanted her to sign a confidentiality agreement. She said she was offended and refused twice to sign any such paperwork. 'I know how he works his trickery,' she said. 'I knew something wasn't right.'
highlights: Shelly Sterling has been awarded most of the nearly $3 million she had sought to be returned .
  Her lawyers successfully argued that money used to buy V. Stiviano a house, luxury cars and stocks was her community property .
  Stiviano's lawyer had argued the gifts were made when Donald and Shelly Sterling were separated .
  Ruling comes nearly a year after Stiviano's recording of Donald Sterling making racially offensive remarks that cost him ownership of the Clippers .
  Shelly had filed the suit  about a month before the recording of Donald telling Stiviano not to associate with black people created an uproar .
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