March 25--Former Clippers owner Donald Sterling had no right to spend millions of dollars to give luxury cars, a Spanish-style duplex and other gifts to his alleged mistress, V. Stiviano, an attorney for Sterling's wife told a Los Angeles County judge on Wednesday.
The lawyer's claim came during opening statements of a trial in which Shelly Sterling is attempting to recoup more than $3 million in gifts that she alleges Stiviano seduced Donald Sterling into giving her.
Stiviano was at the center of last year's controversy that saw Sterling stripped of his ownership of the NBA team after her recording of him making racially charged remarks became public.
"He's an older, vulnerable man, susceptible to the wiles of a younger woman, like the defendant," O'Donnell told the judge.
Stiviano, seated to O'Donnell's right in the downtown L.A. courtroom, glared at him and shook her head.
O'Donnell told Superior Court Judge Richard L. Fruin Jr. that the Sterlings have been married continuously since 1955 and that Donald Sterling had no right to give away their shared community property. Shelly Sterling never signed off on the gifts, as would be required for such expenditures, O'Donnell said.
Attorney Mac Nehoray, who represents Stiviano, countered that the gifts were made during a period when the Sterlings were separated, and that no community property was given away. He argued that Shelly Sterling would not be able to prove that her husband was the source of the gifts.
O'Donnell told the judge that while the case was mostly about the millions of dollars in gifts, it is also about the betrayal of a marriage.
"It's about family, it's about a mutual trust between spouses and the violation of the trust by Donald Sterling," he said.
Stiviano's numerous bank accounts were "engorged" with money, yet Stiviano has not held a job since 2010, O'Donnell said.
That money was given to her by Donald Sterling during their affair, O'Donnell said. "The record will show she was in it for the money -- and it was a lot of money," the lawyer said.
Stiviano often shook her head or let out sighs during the opening argument.
"No job, no income. But millions of dollars flow in and out of her bank accounts and she lived a lavish lifestyle," O'Donnell said. "She has more bank accounts than Zsa Zsa Gabor has ex-husbands."
Shelly Sterling, seated in the audience, let out a laugh at the remark.
O'Donnell played an audiotape, recorded by Stiviano, that he argued depicted Donald Sterling colluding with her to hide the purchase of the house.
"I don't want people to envy me, to take anything away from me, babe," Stiviano said in the recording.
Sterling replied: "Nobody is trying. If they try, they can succeed, the way we have it structured."
Nehoray told the judge that Shelly Sterling couldn't prove where Stiviano's money came from.
"They cannot show what money Mr. Sterling gave Ms. Stiviano," he said. "They want to show that [if] Stiviano has this money but cannot explain it -- then it must be [from] Sterling."
Shelly Sterling is seeking a complete accounting of the gifts and for the court to order Stiviano to return the money and property.
