Shelly Sterling, 79, smiles with Donald Sterling's lawyer Max Blecher after leaving court in Los AngelesBy Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The wife of former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has won a court decision ordering repayment of $2.6 million in real estate and cash he furnished to his alleged mistress, V. Stiviano, the woman behind his racially charged downfall. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard Fruin ruled that Shelly Sterling was entitled to recover those assets from Stiviano because they came from marital community property that her 80-year-old husband gave away without her consent. Part of the 12-page opinion, made public on Wednesday, turned on the judge’s finding that the Sterlings did not live “separate and apart” during time period in question, contrary to Stiviano’s testimony and despite Shelly Sterling’s own assertion in a 2014 televised interview that they had been estranged. The judge also found that Donald Sterling himself sought to “disguise and, thus, to conceal his gifts to Stiviano.” The ruling came nearly three weeks after a three-day non-jury trial of the lawsuit brought by Shelly Sterling seeking the return of $3.6 million in joint marital assets she claimed her husband was swindled into lavishing on Stiviano.