Nearly a decade after Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint, the Parisian underworld gang who allegedly targeted her are finally on trial.
In 2016, several men stormed her French hotel room during Fashion Week, stealing a reported $10million in jewellery, including her wedding ring.
The Skims owner was held at gunpoint, with tape put over her mouth and, with her wrists tied, she was put in the luxury apartment’s bathtub, believing she was going to be killed.
Now, 12 people are set to go on trial at the Paris Assizes court on April 28 for kidnap and armed robbery (per Mail Online) nine years since the crime took place.
It comes as the star faces vitriol from ex-husband Kanye West after he allegedly released a song featuring their daughter, North, as well as disgraced rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs.
Their latest row began when the rapper, 47, released a new track titled ‘Lonely Roads Still Go To Sunshine’, which he alleges is a collaboration between Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, King Combs, North West, and Jasmine Williams.
TMZ reported that the track was nearly axed because of Kim, 44, did not want their 11-year-old daughter to feature in the song.
Here, we explore what happened when the businesswoman was robbed, the aftermath, and what happens now.
When was Kim Kardashian robbed at gunpoint?
In the early hours of October 3, 2016, while she was attending Paris Fashion Week, Kim was attacked in her room at the Hôtel de Pourtalès.
The terrifying attack was led by five armed men, posing as police officers, who tied up the socialite and locked her in the bathroom, along with the concierge.
They reportedly stole a jewellery box worth $6.7 million (£5.2 million) and a ring worth $4.5 million (£3.4 million) – both are believed to be her personal items. She also lost her smartphone during the attack.
Reports said the night watchman had been tied up and forced to reveal the apartment where she was staying.
They then tied her and her bodyguard up in the bathroom and ransacked the luxury apartment.
Her bodyguard Pascal Duvier was at L’Arc nightclub during the robbery with a group that also included Kim’s sister, Kourtney Kardashian.
In January 2017, 17 people were arrested in connection with the robbery. Twelve people are currently on remand and set to face trial in April.
A spokesperson for the star stated that Kim was ‘badly shaken but physically unharmed’ and an investigation was underway.
Who are the 12 people set to go on trial for allegedly robbing Kim Kardashian?
Charged with armed robbery in an organised gang and with kidnapping (per Mail Online):
- Aomar Aït Khedache, 69
- Yunnis Abbas, 72
- Didier ‘Blue Eyes’ Dubreucq, 69
- Pierre ‘Big Pierrot’ Bouianère, 72
- Marc-Alexandre ‘The Kid’ Boyer, 36
Charged with a range of offences, including complicity in the crimes, association with criminals, and concealment of stolen property. (per Mail Online):
- Christiane ‘Cathy’ Glotin, 78
- François ‘Big Guy’ Delaporte, 61
- Florus Héroui, 52
- Harminy Aït Khedache, 38
- Gary Madar, 34
- Marceau ‘Rough Nose’ Baumgertner, 70
- Marc Boyer, 62
The statement read: ‘Kim Kardashian West was held up at gunpoint inside her Paris hotel room this evening,by two armed masked men dressed as police officers. She is badly shaken but physically unharmed.’
Upon hearing the news, Kanye, who was married to Kim at the time, cut his gig in New York short.
Following the robbery, Kim took a break from social media after police said that her posts had alerted the thieves to where she was staying and what she was doing, as well as the jewellery she had with her.
Kim broke her silence on the ordeal in January 2017 when she discussed the robbery with her family in a trailer for Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
She recalled the experience on an episode of E! True Hollywood Story, which aired in 2019.
‘That 10 minutes really changed my whole life,’ she said.
‘Right as I was about to fall asleep, I heard guys running up the stairs,’ the mum-of-four explained. ‘They wanted my ring and my jewellery, so I didn’t fight back.
‘I just gave them everything and they tied me up.
‘They wrapped duct tape over my eyes and my mouth. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever been through in my entire life, just thinking, you know, you’re about to die.
‘You’re just kind of bracing yourself for the moment that they’re going to shoot and kill you.’
Kim’s sister Kourtney also reflected on the incident on the TV show.
‘My legs went out,’ Kourtney said. ‘I fell to the floor. Kim was really, really shaken up. We just did all the work that she had to do with police and got out of there.’
Kim continued: ‘There are those moments in your life that really change you and shake you to your core, and my robbery was definitely that moment.’
In November 2021, French authorities announced that 12 people were set to face trial for their involvement in the robbery.
In 2022, Yunice Abbas, one of the five men who allegedly robbed the star, spoke to Vice and explained what went down that evening.
Abbas recalled seeing her ‘throw her diamond in the pool’ in an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians and surmised she ‘doesn’t care at all.’
‘Since she was throwing money away, I was there to collect it, and that was that. Guilty? No, I don’t care. I don’t care.’
He continued: ‘They should be a little less showy toward people who can’t afford it.’
Abbas went on to release a book, I Kidnapped Kim Kardashian, in 2021.
Aomar Ait Khedache, who admitted to robbing the star, asked for forgiveness in a letter addressed to Kim.
‘I want to come to you as a human being to tell you how much I regret my gesture, how much I have been moved and touched to see you in tears,’ Khedache reportedly wrote (per TMZ).
‘Know that I fully sympathize with the pain you are enduring, your children, your husband, and your close ones.’
He is said to have also added: ‘I hope that this letter will allow you to forget little by little the trauma that you suffered by my fault.’
Following the incident, Kim returned to Paris in 2018 after skipping Paris Fashion Week the year prior.
She said she felt it was ‘the perfect time’ to return and found that being back there wasn’t a problem for her.
Kim wrote on her official website: ‘For me, it was the perfect time to come back to a place where I fell in love, but also a place where I suffered great trauma.
‘Emotionally, I feel calm. I’ve truly put the experience behind me, and have learned and grown from it. Because of this, mentally coming back to Paris wasn’t difficult for me.
‘It feels refreshing to face my fears and overcome them. For me, there’s no point in staying in a f**ked-up state of mind.’
Appearing on The Alec Baldwin Show, in the same year, she said she was ‘grateful’ for the incident.
‘I was never depressed, but I wasn’t motivated to get up and work like I used to. It shook me,’ she explained.
Reflecting on the robbery in a new feature with Business of Fashion magazine, Kim spoke about the anxiety she developed in the months following.
‘I used to have really bad anxiety going to restaurants, thinking people are going to know that I’m at a restaurant and that my home is empty,’ she explained.
‘And that they might go to my house and try to take my stuff, or they might know exactly when I’m coming back if they’re timing it and watching, if I’m out in public.
‘I started to get this phobia of going out.’
In a 2018 edition Business of Fashion magazine, Kim spoke about the anxiety she developed in the months following.
‘I used to have really bad anxiety going to restaurants, thinking people are going to know that I’m at a restaurant and that my home is empty,’ she explained.
‘And that they might go to my house and try to take my stuff, or they might know exactly when I’m coming back if they’re timing it and watching, if I’m out in public.’
In 2019, Kim said she blamed herself for the robbery after feeling like she overshared her ‘flashy’ lifestyle.
‘I definitely see the things that I brought on myself, the biggest being the robbery. Just being flashy and oversharing my every move on social media,’ she told New York Magazine.
‘But I enjoy my life. Someone said to me the other day, “What is it like being you?” It’s awesome.’
The reality TV star continued: ‘All the things that really mattered to me then deeply – how many bags I had, what car I drove … I still like all that stuff, but it doesn’t matter. It could go away.
‘For so long, people have tried to partner me with things. But this was the first thing where I thought, You know what? I want to go to law school. I want to help people. Let me work for the next 10 years and build up my brands, and then one day, in 10 years, just give up being Kim K and become a lawyer.’
In October 2020, Kim settled a $6.1 million (£4.7 million) lawsuit with her former bodyguard after he was accused of failing to protect her.
She sued bodyguard Pascal Duvier and his companies – Protect Security and Balali Investments Inc – for negligence for the amount the insurance company paid Kim for the jewellery that was stolen.
During an appearance on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman in the same year, Kim speculated that one of the armed robbers was ‘trying to give her a sign’ during the crime.
‘I kept looking at the concierge because I didn’t know who he was. I’m like “what is happening, are we going to die?”,’ Kim began.
‘The guy kept whispering to me “are you okay”, this one guy, the guy that didn’t have the gun, like “if you just shhhh, you okay”.
‘He could hardly speak English but I was like, “is he giving me a signal?”, so much goes through your head.
‘I have watched every single CSI show on the planet, and so for one split second I am like “look into his eyes, what colour eyes do you have, what colour hair” you’re trying to do what you’re supposed to do and it all goes out the door.’
Kim broke down in tears as she recalled the fear of being raped by the armed robbers.
She told the host: ‘He grabbed me and I was wearing a robe and I wasn’t wearing anything under it.
‘He grabbed me and pulled me towards him, so I was like, “okay this is the time I’m going to get raped”.
‘But then he tied me up with handcuffs and zip-ties and duct-tape, and then he taped my mouth and my eyes.’
In 2021, Kim opened up to her sister Khloe about experiencing agoraphobia following the robbery.
Coming out of lockdown during the pandemic brought back the fears she had then as she felt unsafe being outside and tried to avoid fans who approached her and estranged husband Kanye West in the street.
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‘I have not left my house really since quarantine. I was so freaked out,’ she said during an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
‘People were trying to come up to Kanye and talk to him. People were trying to come up to me and ask for photos and I was like, “Absolutely not.” I would stop people and be like, “Get away, this is my first time out. I’m not comfortable with you coming a step closer”.’
She continued: ‘I feel like I had agoraphobia, definitely, after my robbery in Paris. Definitely would stay in, hated to go out, I didn’t want anyone to know where I was or be seen. I just had such anxiety.’
‘Then I feel I was just getting back into it, we’d just gone to Paris, we just started travelling again, and then quarantine happened and I’m such a freak all over again and I never wanna leave.’
Kim Kardashian’s 2016 robbery timeline
Five men wearing masks and police uniforms enter the Hôtel de Pourtalès, hold the receptionist at gunpoint, and gain access to Kim’s room. They bound and gagged her and stole a reported $10 million in jewellery.
After French authorities were alerted to the heist, Kim gave a statement to police before being allowed to travel home.
A trailer for the latest season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians saw Kim recount the experience for the first time.
Four men were indicted three days later, and then an additional six suspects were indicted on January 13.
Aomar Ait Khedache, who admitted to being part of the heist, expressed ‘regret’ and asked for forgiveness from Kim.
A judicial official told the publication that after five years of investigation, investigating judges have ordered the case sent to trial.
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