Kim Kardashian's robbers found guilty in Paris but won't face prison
time
[May 24, 2025]
By JOHN LEICESTER and THOMAS ADAMSON
PARIS (AP) — A Paris court on Friday found the ringleader and seven
other people guilty in the 2016 armed robbery of Kim Kardashian, but did
not impose any additional time behind bars for their roles in what the
U.S. celebrity described as “the most terrifying experience of my life."
The chief judge, David De Pas, said that the defendants' ages — six are
in their 60s and 70s — and their health issues weighed on the court’s
decision to impose sentences that he said “aren’t very severe.”
He said that the nine years between the robbery and the trial — long
even by the standards of France’s famously deliberate legal system —
were also taken into account in not imposing harsher sentences. The
court acquitted two of the 10 defendants.
Aomar Aït Khedache, 69, the ringleader, got the stiffest sentence, eight
years imprisonment but five of those were suspended. Three others got
seven years, five of them suspended. Three more got prison sentences
ranging from five to three years, mostly or completely suspended, and an
eighth person was found guilty on a weapons charge and fined.
With time already served in pretrial detention, none of those found
guilty will go to prison and all walked out free. The trial was heard by
a three-judge panel and six jurors.
Still, the chief judge said that Kardashian had been traumatized by the
Oct. 2, 2016, jewel heist in her hotel during Fashion Week.
“You caused harm,” the judge said. “You caused fear.”
Kardashian, who wasn't present for the verdict, said in a statement
issued afterward that she was “deeply grateful to the French authorities
for pursuing justice in this case.”
“The crime was the most terrifying experience of my life, leaving a
lasting impact on me and my family. While I’ll never forget what
happened, I believe in the power of growth and accountability and pray
for healing for all. I remain committed to advocating for justice, and
promoting a fair legal system," said the celebrity who is working to
become a lawyer.
A separate statement from her legal team said that “Kim appreciates the
court’s decision."
“It has been a long journey from that terrible night,” it said. “She
looks forward to putting this tragic episode behind her.”
Khedache's walking stick clicked on the courthouse's marble floors as he
walked out free. His DNA, found on the bands used to bind Kardashian,
was a breakthrough that helped crack open the case.
Wiretaps captured him giving orders, recruiting accomplices and
arranging to sell the diamonds in Belgium. A diamond-encrusted cross,
dropped during the escape, was the only piece of jewelry ever recovered.
The men made off with more than $6 million in jewelry, including a
diamond ring she’d worn that night to a Givenchy show. They also took a
watch her late father had given her when she graduated high school.
Two of the robbers, dressed as police, forced their way into her suite
in the glamorous Hôtel de Pourtalès and bound Kardashian with zip ties
and tape.
The theft subsequently forced celebrities to rethink how they live and
protect themselves.
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Kim Kardashian, center, accompanied by her mother Kris Jenner,
right, leaves the justice palace after testifying, regarding a
robbery of millions of dollars in jewels from her Paris hotel room
in 2016, in Paris, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien
Morissard)
Because of their ages, the accused became known in France as “les
papys braqueurs,” or the grandpa robbers. They faced charges
including armed robbery, kidnapping and gang association.
Paris was once a sanctuary for Kardashian
Kardashian’s testimony earlier this month was the trial's emotional
high point. In a packed courtroom, she recounted how she was thrown
onto a bed and had a gun pressed to her.
“I absolutely did think I was going to die,” she said. She said she
pleaded: "I have babies. I have to make it home. They can take
everything. I just have to make it home.”
She was dragged into a marble bathroom and told to stay silent. When
the robbers fled, she freed herself by scraping the tape on her
wrists off against the sink, then hid with her friend, shaking and
barefoot.
She said that Paris had once been her sanctuary — a city she would
wander at 3 a.m., window shopping, stopping for hot chocolate. That
illusion was shattered.
Forgiveness
Khedache's lawyer pleaded for clemency, pointing to one of the
trial’s most visceral moments — when he and Kardashian came face to
face during her testimony.
“She listened to the letter he had written to her, and then she
forgave him,” lawyer Franck Berton told The Associated Press.
Kardashian, typically shielded by security and spectacle, had locked
eyes with Khedache as the letter was read aloud.
“I do appreciate the letter, I forgive you,” she said. “But it
doesn’t change the feelings and the trauma and the fact that my life
was forever changed.”
Khedache on Friday asked for “a thousand pardons,” communicated via
a written note in court. Other defendants also used their final
words to express remorse.
Privacy became luxury
The robbery echoed beyond the City of Light. It forced a
recalibration of celebrity behavior in the age of Instagram. For
years, Kardashian had curated her life like a showroom: geo-tagged,
diamond-lit, public by design. But this was the moment the showroom
turned into a crime scene. In her words, “People were watching …
They knew where I was.”
Afterward, she stopped posting her location in real time. She
stripped her social media feed of lavish gifts. Other stars followed
suit.
___
Mallika Sen in New York and Catherine Gaschka contributed to this
report.
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