Donald Sterling vows he'll never sell team, calls his wife a pig
LOS ANGELES - A raging Donald Sterling denounced his wife, her lawyers and the NBA from the witness stand Wednesday, saying he would never sell the Los Angeles Clippers and vowing a lifetime of lawsuits against the league.
"Make no mistake today," Sterling shouted toward the end of his second day of testimony in the trial to determine his wife's right to make a $2 billion deal to sell the Clippers, "I will never, ever sell this team and until I die I will be suing the NBA for this terrible violation under antitrust."
He was followed to the stand by wife Shelly, who tried to approach him in the front row of the courtroom after she was done for the day.
"Get away from me, you pig!" Sterling shouted.
The judge then admonished him to make no further comments.
Sterling began his testimony by saying he loved his wife, but then denounced her. He said she told him to have psychiatric and neurological exams only because he had turned 80, and she was concerned for his health.
"She deceived me. I trusted her," Sterling said. "I never thought a wife wouldn't stand for her husband."
Donald Sterling's lawyers are challenging the authority of Shelly Sterling under the family trust to unilaterally cut a deal for the team with former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
Before she made the deal, two doctors examined Donald Sterling and declared him mentally incapacitated and unable to act as an administrator of the Sterling Family Trust, which owns the Clippers.
Sterling said he was certain his wife had never read the family trust because it was too complicated for her to understand.
During examination by his own lawyer, Maxwell Blecher, Sterling was asked about his wife's position in the trust if he were to be disqualified as a trustee.
"She has no rights whatsoever. She has no stock. She has no standing whatsoever," Sterling said.
He also lashed out at the NBA, saying, "My wife was terrified. She's frightened to death. She thinks the NBA will take away everything she worked for. She was scared out of her mind."
The NBA banned Donald Sterling for life and moved to force him to sell the Clippers after a recorded conversation in which he made racist statements came to light earlier this year.