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A group of pensioners nicknamed the “grandpa robbers” will go on trial in Paris next week, charged with stealing jewellery worth millions of euros from the US TV reality star Kim Kardashian when she attended Paris fashion week in 2016.
In what was considered the biggest robbery of an individual in France in 20 years, Kardashian was tied up and held hostage at gunpoint in her bedroom in central Paris by armed thieves dressed as police officers in the early hours of 3 October 2016. The thieves escaped with up to an estimated €10m in jewellery.
At the time of the robbery, Kardashian was without security protection and sitting alone in her bedroom at an exclusive apartment building in central Paris, known as a “no address” site, where celebrities visiting Paris often rent sumptuous suites.
Her bodyguard had instead accompanied her sister, the fellow reality TV star Kourtney Kardashian, to a Paris nightclub after the sisters had spent the day at major Paris fashion shows being photographed.
Kardashian, 44, a billionaire celebrity influencer and business owner, later told the TV interviewer David Letterman she had feared she would be raped and murdered during the heist. She said of one of the burglars: “I saw him have a gun out for me, and I was like, OK, this is it. I kept on thinking about Kourtney, I kept on thinking she’s going to come home and I’m going to be dead in the room and she’s going to be traumatised for the rest of her life if she sees me … I thought that was my fate.”
At that time, Kardashian routinely posted most of her daily movements and whereabouts on social media, where she also displayed her jewellery, including a large 18.88-carat diamond engagement ring given to her by her then husband, the rapper Kanye West, which was estimated to be worth $4m. Those details on social media may have facilitated the thieves’ targeting of her.
Kardashian later told a Forbes Power Women’s Summit the thieves had followed her movements on social media. “They knew my every move and what I had.” She said it had changed her approach to what she posted.
Kardashian, who is now a criminal justice advocate in the US, will travel to give evidence at the Paris trial, which runs from 28 April to 23 May.
A group of five armed men, all aged over 60, are alleged to have arrived by bicycle or on foot and impersonated police officers to enter the building just after 2am.
After allegedly holding the concierge at gunpoint, they went to Kardashian’s apartment, where one man pulled a gun on her. Kardashian told police that the man spoke in “a very strong French accent” in English, telling her to hand over her diamond engagement ring. She was held at gunpoint, her arms and feet were tied and her mouth was taped. The men then fled the room in less than 10 minutes taking the ring and other jewels.
Ten people will go on trial in Paris in connection with the heist, on charges including armed robbery, membership of a criminal gang, and kidnapping – which refers to Kardashian being held hostage at gunpoint. Eight deny any involvement.
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One of the accused, Yunice Abbas, now 71, has admitted his part in the heist saying he was part of the group who entered the building and he stood guard downstairs. He told TF1 TV in France on Sunday: “We were all grandads.” He said he had previously served 20 years in prison for robbery, had been out of prison for 10 years and was struggling to make ends meet. “I had a proposal for a big job, which would be my last … They told me there was a 20-carat diamond that wasn’t protected … That was tempting.”
He said that, at the time, he had not known who they were robbing. “I was told it was the wife of a rapper. I didn’t ask questions.”
He said: “I see her as a victim; we had nothing against her personally.”
Aomar Ait Khedache, known as “Old Omar”, 68, has also admitted participating in the heist but denies the prosecution’s accusation that he was the ringleader.
Of the 12 people originally charged over the robbery, only 10 will be present at the trial after one suspect died and another – Pierre Bouianere, 80 – was declared unable to participate in proceedings for health reasons. He will be tried separately.
Most of the jewels were never recovered. At least one item was dropped by the thieves while escaping – a diamond-encrusted cross worth €30,000, which was found by a passerby as she went to work the next morning and handed to police.
