Lisa Hochstein Feels 'Vindicated' as Restraining Order from Husband's New Girlfriend Is Dismissed

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The restraining order Lenny Hochstein's girlfriend Katharina Mazepa took out against his estranged wife Lisa Hochstein has been dismissed, and the Real Housewives of Miami star tells PEOPLE she's happy to have "justice."

"I feel vindicated," Lisa, 40, says in an interview for this week's issue about her ongoing divorce. "I'm happy to say the court system works and that the judge saw right through these false and fictitious accusations against me. I only wish she wouldn't have spread these lies in the first place, as it was clearly a waste of time, money, and energy for all of us involved."

Mazepa, 27, responded to Lisa's claims through her attorney, Lorne Berkeley, who called Lisa's statement "a misstatement of the findings of the court."

Berkeley asserted that "the judge recognized that the acts complained of did, in fact, occur by Lisa, and were found to be credible and legitimate as Ms Mazepa complained of. " She attributed the judge's ruling to a legal doctrine that makes it difficult to obtain  a permanent injunction against a wife  under such circumstances. "While we respect the court's decision, we do not agree that such an exception should have been applied in this situation.," she said.

The Austrian fashion model, who went public with her romance with Lenny, 56, not long after he filed for divorce from Lisa following 12 years of marriage, filed a restraining order against the reality star in July, accusing her of harassment and bullying.

Court documents, submitted on Nov. 28, dismissed the order as having "no just cause."

"Upon review, the evidence presented is insufficient under the Florida law ... to allow the Court to issue an injunction for protection against domestic, repeat, dating or sexual violence or stalking," read the filing, obtained by PEOPLE and signed by Judge Ayana Harris.

Katharina Mazepa/Instagram Lenny Hochstein and girlfriend Katharina Mazepa

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Lisa says she's "happy" to have her name cleared, admitting it was "scary to think I might have something like this on my permanent record — especially as a mother to two small kids." (She shares Logan, 7, and daughter Elle, 3, with Lenny.)

"I'm squeaky clean, I've never done anything, hurt anybody, I've never threatened anyone with physical harm in my life," she says. "I believe it was all just an attempt to vilify me in the press, paint herself as the victim in the public eye so people wouldn't criticize her for being in a relationship with a married man, and help Lenny in our divorce proceedings. Because she filed this three months after any contact had happened between us. There was no reason to come after me."

The Miami Housewife recalls the pain of being served the papers on her birthday weekend, while Lenny and Mazepa were on vacation in Europe. "I was supposed to be celebrating my 40th birthday at a big party with Lenny; instead, I was alone with yet another knife in my heart," laments Lisa. "It was supposed to have been the happiest weekend of my life and it wound up being the worst."

"I begged Lenny to have her drop it. I said, 'I'm the mother of your children!' But he kept saying, 'Sorry, I asked her, she just won't do it," Lisa claims. "It never should have been granted in the first place! Restraining orders are granted when you threaten someone with physical harm and they're in danger for their lives; her life was never in danger. None of what she claimed was true and the court proved that."

Courtesy Jahmar Amani Lisa Hochstein

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The Hochsteins have been staples on RHOM since its second season, which premiered in 2012, and always presented themselves as having an unbreakable bond. But underneath that portrait of perfection were cracks that Lisa says she always expected they would work through together — which is why she felt "blindsided" when he told her he wanted to split.

"Of course our marriage wasn't perfect. There were ups and downs, but we always prided ourselves for being that couple that would stick through it," she says. "There was never any real talk of divorce before that. I never thought we'd be on this path. I always thought we would come back together and work it out somehow — especially with two young kids, a thriving business, and everything we worked for."

"I was just desperately trying to fix this," she continues. "And the best I could just wasn't good enough for him."

Lenny, for his part, denies Lisa's claims to PEOPLE, saying that the idea of divorce was long discussed and that Lisa was interviewing divorce attorneys upwards of three years ago. "I've never hidden anything from Lisa," he said. "I told Lisa time and time again, 'I can't do this.' ... I begged her to change and she refused. She didn't care. If anything, she became worse. And that's why we're getting divorced."

lisa hochstein/instagram Lisa and Lenny Hochstein

For more about Lisa Hochstein, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE — on newsstands Friday.

Peacock viewers will get to judge for themselves, as the former couple's split plays out on the fifth season of the reality show, streaming Thursday.

"It's just so embarrassing.," Lisa tells PEOPLE. "To go through something like this so publicly would never have been my decision. And I stayed silent for months. But we signed up for this and it's going to be out there, whether we like it or not."

"I'm just glad to have this restraining order behind me," she notes. "At least that's one less humiliation to go through."

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Season 5 of The Real Housewives of Miami streams Thursday on Peacock.