But none of them will face prison time.
The court acquitted two of the 10 defendants. The sentences read out by the court president ranged from prison terms to fines.
Aomar Aït Khedache, 69, the ringleader, got the stiffest sentence, eight years imprisonment but five of those are suspended.
Three others who were accused on the most serious charges got seven years, five of them suspended.
With the time they spent in pretrial detention already accounted for, those who were found guilty won’t be serving any prison time. A panel of three judges and six jurors presided over the trial.
The lead judge, David De Pas, noted that the ages of the defendants influenced the court’s choice not to issue more severe sentences that would have resulted in jail time, as the oldest is 79 and several others are in their 60s and 70s.
He said the nine years between the robbery and the trial was also taken into account in the sentencing.
“You caused harm,” he said. “You caused fear.”
Kardashian, who wasn’t present for the verdict, issued a statement after the ruling was announced.
“I am deeply grateful to the French authorities for pursuing justice in this case,” she said.
“The crime was the most terrifying ordeal of my life, leaving a lasting impact on me and my loved ones. Though I can never forget what occurred, I believe in the potential for growth and accountability, and I hope for healing for everyone involved. I am dedicated to advocating for justice and promoting an equitable legal system.”
Khedache arrived at court walking with a stick, his face hidden from cameras. His DNA, found on the bands used to bind Kardashian, was a key 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 jewellery ever recovered.
The crime took place on the night of October 2, 2016 during Paris Fashion Week. The robbers, dressed as police, forced their way into the glamorous Hôtel de Pourtalès, bound Kardashian with zip ties and escaped with her jewelry â a theft that would force celebrities to rethink how they live and protect themselves.
The accused became known in France as “les papys braqueurs,” or the grandpa robbers.
Some arrived in court in orthopedic shoes and one leaned on a cane. But prosecutors warned observers not to be fooled.
The defendants faced charges including armed robbery, kidnapping and gang association.
Khedache had said he was only a foot soldier. He blamed a mysterious “X” or “Ben” â someone prosecutors say never existed.
His lawyer pleaded for clemency, pointing to one of the trial’s most visceral moments â Kardashian’s earlier courtroom encounter with the man accused of orchestrating her ordeal. Though she wasn’t present on Friday, her words â and the memory of that moment â still echoed.
“She looked at him when she came, 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.” A tabloid crime had become something raw and human.
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.
Paris was once a sanctuary for Kardashian
Kardashian’s testimony earlier this month was the emotional high point. In a packed courtroom, she recounted how she was thrown onto a bed, zip-tied, and had a gun pressed to her on the night of the robbery.
“I absolutely did think I was going to die,” she said.
“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 â a city she would wander at 3am, window shopping, stopping for hot chocolate. That illusion was shattered.
The robbery echoed far beyond the City of Light. It forced a recalibration of celebrity behaviour 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 and vanished from Paris for years. Other stars followed suit. Privacy became luxury.
Even by the standards of France’s famously deliberate legal system, the case took years to reach trial.
