PARIS – Ten years after thieves raided Kim Kardashian’s lavish accommodation, restraining her at gunpoint, a Paris court is preparing to deliver its decision on what is considered one of the boldest celebrity thefts in modern France.
Ten individuals, nine men and one woman, face charges of executing — or assisting in — the heist during 2016’s Paris Fashion Week. Disguised as police officers, the robbers entered Kardashian’s Parisian abode, secured her with zip-ties, and made off with jewels valued at $6 million.
Central to the proceedings is Aomar Aït Khedache, aged 70, who is a seasoned figure in Paris’ criminal circles. The prosecution has recommended a decade-long imprisonment for him. The breakthrough in the investigation came from his DNA, discovered on the zip-ties restraining Kardashian. Intercepted communications revealed him orchestrating the operation, enlisting partners, and planning to sell the gems in Belgium, but the stolen items remain missing.
Khedache claims he was only a foot soldier. He blamed a mysterious “X” or “Ben” — someone prosecutors say never existed.
The accused became known in France as “les papys braqueurs” — the grandpa robbers. Some arrived in court in orthopedic shoes and one leaned on a cane. Some read the proceedings from a screen, hard of hearing and nearly mute. But prosecutors warned observers not to be seduced by soft appearances.
The trial is being heard by a panel of three judges and six jurors, who will need a majority vote to reach a verdict.
The defendants face charges including armed robbery, kidnapping and gang association. If convicted, they could face life in prison.
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 Oct. 2, 2016.
“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 she hid with her friend, shaking and barefoot.
She said 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.
The robbery echoed far beyond the City of Light. It forced a recalibration of celebrity behavior in the digital age. 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.
Defense attorneys have asked the court for leniency, citing the defendants’ age and health. But prosecutors insist that criminal experience, not frailty, defined the gang.
On Friday morning, the accused will speak one final time before the court withdraws to deliberate.
Even for France’s painstakingly thorough legal system, observers commented about how long it took for the case to be tried.
Kardashian, who once said “this experience really changed everything,” hopes the verdict will offer a measure of closure.
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