By Snejana Farberov

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Before her death last year at the age of 104, copper heiress Huguette Clark showered her caretakers and staffers with lavish gifts, among them palatial mansions, world-renowned artwork and rare violins.

But the lucky recipients of Ms Clark’s multimillion-dollar tokens of gratitude may be forced to give them back, according to the court-appointed official overseeing the later heiress’ estate who has accused her former staff of manipulating their elderly employer.

Public administrator Ethel Griffin has asked a court to force Clark’s former nurse and other aides to relinquish the presents in an attempt to reclaim $37million for the $400million estate, Fox News reported.

Huguette Clark died at age 104 last year, leaving a $400million estate

Heiress: Huguette Clark died at age 104 last year, leaving a $400million estate

‘It does not appear that anyone in a position of power or authority ever intervened to ensure that Mrs Clark possessed the requisite capacity to make gifts and was acting of her own free will,’ Deputy Public Administrator Joy Thompson wrote in last month’s filing.

On her death, Ms Clark had no children and left nothing in her latest will to family members.

Among those targeted by Griffin is Clark’s private nurse, Hadassah Peri, who worked for the heiress from 1991, visiting her six days a week for 12 hours.

An immigrant from the Philippines, Peri earned a salary of more than $130,000, and on top of that, she was the recipient of almost $28million worth of gifts, including three Manhattan apartments, two homes elsewhere, a $1.2million Stradivarius violin and a doll worth $64,000.

Mishandled: A judge  ruled that Clark's attorney William Bock (right) and accountant Irving Kamsler (left) committed 'shocking' tax fraud by failing to tell Clark how much gift tax she would have to pay

Peri’s family received an additional $3million.

The nurse’s attorney, Harvey Corn, disputed the claim that she took advantage of Ms Clark, saying that the reclusive heiress was a very generous woman who made gifts to people she rarely or never saw.

‘It’s absurd to think that she would not give gifts to the individuals who worked with her,’ Corn added.

Besides Peri, the families of Clark’s two doctors received more than $3million in presents, while a night nurse was given money to cover her children's school tuition and to help buy two apartments.

In addition to the 104-year-old’s medical personnel, accountant Irving Kamsler got $435,000 in gifts, while lawyer Wallace Bock was given $60,000.

In a bizarre twist, Bock also received a $1.8million contribution from Clark for a security system for the Israeli settlement where his daughter lives.

Wealth: Huguette (right) is pictured as an 11-year-old with her father and sister Andree in this 1917 photo

Wealth: Huguette (right) is pictured as an 11-year-old with her father and sister Andree in this 1917 photo

Privileged: Clark's staggering wealth came from her father's copper mining business

‘The record will show that Wally Bock acted in Huguette Clark’s interest at all times,’ said his lawyer John Dadakis.

Following a 2010 criminal investigation, Judge Kristin Booth Glen ruled that Bock and Kamsler committed ‘shocking’ tax fraud which meant Clark had a bill of $90million in unpaid federal gift taxes and penalties that she was not aware of. Neither man has been charged.

As early as 1993, Kamsler told a previous Clark lawyer that her expenses were outstripping her income, and he and Bock at least sometimes warned her about the tax ramifications of her gifts, court documents show.

Besides seeking an order for return of those gifts, the administrator asked a court last month to investigate whether a hospital where Clark lived, Beth Israel Medical Canter, should have to give back a $6million painting by French pre-Impressionist Edouard Manet and whether the prominent Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington should have to return $250,000.

Riches: Clark, pictured with her U.S. senator father (centre), owned the largest residence on Fifth Avenue in New York City - and mansions in California and Connecticut. She died in May 2011

Riches: Clark, pictured with her U.S. senator father (centre), owned the largest residence on Fifth Avenue in New York City - and mansions in California and Connecticut. She died in May 2011

Recluse: Miss Clark rarely left her 42-room New York apartment overlooking Central Park in 70 years

Recluse: Miss Clark rarely left her 42-room New York apartment overlooking Central Park in 70 years

Fox News has reported that a court will likely have to reconstruct the intentions and mental state of an eccentric woman and discern whether manipulation or gratitude was driving her staggering generosity.

Clark also gave other substantial gifts the public administrator is not trying to reclaim, including a $10million gift to a friend in 2000. The administrator has said some gifts were valid.

The public administrator's court documents portray Clark as a frail, secluded woman who was exploited by a scheming staff. But her former employees say the heiress was a generous, independent-minded person who wrote many of the disputed checks herself.

Vacant: The 100 million Clark estate in Santa Barbara, California, which has been empty since 1963

Vacant: The 100 million Clark estate in Santa Barbara, California, which has been empty since 1963

For sale: Miss Clark had never visited her mansion in New Canaan, Connecticut

For sale: Miss Clark had never visited her mansion in New Canaan, Connecticut

Then there is the matter of her large fortune. The last will Clark apparently signed, in April 2005, leaves most of her money to charity, with a more than $30million bequest to her private nurse.

Another will, signed six weeks earlier, left most of her estate to about 20 great-nieces and great-nephews who are now challenging the latest will. In that will, only $5million went to Peri.

A daughter of a Montana senator who amassed his Gilded Age wealth mining copper, building railroads and founding Las Vegas, the childless, briefly married Clark owned the largest residence on Fifth Avenue and mansions in California and Connecticut. But the last 20 years of her life, she voluntarily spent in two Manhattan hospitals.

She was hospitalized in 1991 after a friend sent a doctor to see her. The physician found a 75lbs octogenarian in a disheveled apartment illuminated by a single candle, her face ravaged by skin cancer, according to a recent court filing cited by Fox News.

Spacious: A floor plan shows the sold 12th floor apartment, which measures 5,000 square foot

Palatial: Floor plan of Clark's spacious Fifth Avenue apartment that was sold in June for $25.5million  

Clark’s healthy improved by 1996. She was talking with her staff and involved in handling her affairs but still ‘shy and reticent, avoiding most people,’ though she exchanged letters with friends and relatives, Dr Henry Singman wrote. She was unwilling to go home, even when he urged her to.

Clark paid the hospital $300,000 to $400,000 a year to care for her and hired private nurses and doctors, according to court documents.

The heiress' jewelry collection sold in April of 2012 for $18.3million and her three apartments overlooking Central Park and Fifth Avenue are on the market for $55million. One has been bought in the beginning of June for $25.5million by hedge fund manager Boaz Weinstein.

Her country estate in New Canaan, Connecticut, is up for sale for $17million while her $100million estate in Santa Barbara is being maintained until a decision is reached on the wills.