Wall Street banker is ordered to pay $6m after bitter divorce

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Paul Perkins, 61, married beauty queen Vibeke Steineger, 67, in 1989
Pair became estranged in 2009 after 'row in the middle of Bloomingdale's'
Steineger filed for divorce in 2012 sparking feud over estimated $13million estate including Park Avenue property, and Picasso and Matisse artworks
Perkins had tried to claim that Steineger had 'duped' him into marriage
She won payout after unearting video of husband's glowing birthday tribute

Published: 15:34 EST, 5 August 2015 | Updated: 15:47 EST, 5 August 2015

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A Wall Street banker who claimed his wife 'duped' him into marriage during his divorce was undone when a video emerged showing him giving a glowing toast to her at a birthday party.

Financier Paul Perkins, 61, a real estate investment banker, has now been ordered to pay former beauty-queen wife Vibeke Steineger, 67, $6million plus a monthly stipend of $6,500.

During the case, which has been going through the courts since 2012, Perkins had tried to claim that Steineger was a 'manipulator' who amounted to nothing more than a glorified childminder.

Paul Perkins, 61, a real estate investment banker, claimed ex Vibeker Steineger, 67 (right), had contributed 'in no way' to his success or business during their divorce proceedings

However, Judge Louis Crespo dismissed his argument after her lawyers uncovered a video of him delivering a speech at her 60th birthday party in which he called her 'the love of my life for 20 years.'

The pair had been rowing over an estimated $13million fortune, including a Park Avenue apartment, original Picasso and Matisse artworks, and countless other antiques, the New York Post reports.

According to the Post, Perkins and Steineger, who won the title of Miss Norway in 1970, first married in 1989, and went on to have two children together.

However, the relationship eventually began to fall apart, and the couple became estranged in 2009 after a row on the sales floor at Bloomingdale's. Steineger filed for divorce in 2012.

During the case, Perkins tried to downplay Steineger's role in their relationship, saying she had not contributed 'in any way' to his business or success, the Judge's ruling said.

However, Steineger, a former beauty queen (pictured left winning Miss Norway in 1970, and today, right) won over the judge with a video showing Perkins giving a glowing toast at her 60th birthday

Instead he claimed all she had ever done was look after the children, and often failed to do that properly, as school attendance records showed she had often dropped them off late.

Steineger herself brought in papers showing Perkins had gone golfing at the historic Sleepy Hollow Country Club 50 times in two years, claiming it showed he was an absent husband.

But key to her case was a recording from 2007 in which Perkins praises her as 'charming … graceful, tender and warm person' who 'could warm a room … and definitely does our house.'

Ordering the payout, Judge Crespo said the footage showed Steineger had meant more to Perkins than his testimony had let on.