It’s judgment day for the “Grandpa Robbers” gang of suspects accused of stealing $10 million worth of jewelry from a tied-up Kim Kardashian in Paris in 2016 … 10 defendants received their verdicts Friday.
Eight people have been found guilty, and two were acquitted. The accused ringleader, 69-year-old Aomar “Old Omar” Ait Kedache received an 8-year prison sentence, with 5 years suspended … three others received 7-year sentences, also with 5 years suspended. With time served in pretrial detention, none of the guilty individuals will be sent to prison, The Associated Press reports.
Two men wearing police uniforms and masks overpowered a concierge outside Kim’s Hôtel de Pourtalès apartment, broke into her room, bound her with zip-ties and tape, and left her in the bathroom, before absconding with her jewelry — including a $4-million diamond engagement ring from her then-husband Kanye West.
TMZ.com
Nine men and one woman have been on trial for weeks, accused of plotting and executing a heist in October 2016 during Paris Fashion Week. Four of the men were facing 10 years in prison … five other men and a woman accused of being accessories faced 6-8 years. The suspects were arrested about three months after the heist.
The chief judge said the ages of the defendants, and time already served, were factors in the sentencing. Three judges presided and six jurors heard the case — and seven combined votes were required to reach each verdict. The verdicts were announced shortly after 2 PM Paris time.
One of the robbery suspects — who wrote a book loosely translated as “I Kidnapped Kim Kardashian” about the incident — allegedly rode away from the scene on a bicycle, but fell when a tire went flat, spilling jewels onto the street. He gathered what he could and fled … hours later, a woman walking to work found a $24K diamond necklace on the street and wore it, before learning of the heist and turning it over to police.
Nine years later, the necklace is the only stolen item from the robbery that’s ever been recovered.
Most of the defendants are in their 60s and 70s, and several are career criminals, having spent time in prison over the years. Arrests were made months after the Paris robbery, but it’s taken nearly 10 years for the case to make it to court. Defendants faced a variety of charges, including robbery, kidnapping, weapons possession and conspiracy.
Alleged 69-year-old mastermind “Old Omar,” who’s deaf and mute and has testified with written notes in court, apologized to Kim Friday morning, hours before the verdicts were announced. During her testimony last week, she said she forgave the man, “but it doesn’t change the emotion and the feelings and the trauma the way my life is forever changed,” she said.
Kim testified last week, standing in the witness box for hours, telling the court “I absolutely thought I was going to die,” and feared she might be raped first … she described wearing nothing but a bathrobe as the men entered her suite at about 3 AM.
TF1
“He grabs my legs and pulls me. I’m naked and my everything is exposed,” she said. “I was sure that I was going to be raped.” But the men took her possessions and left.
TMZ.com
One of the men accused in the plot — at age 35, the youngest by decades — had been employed by the Kardashian family as a driver and travel facilitator during previous trips to Europe. Gary Madar was acquitted Friday.
The convicted individuals have 10 days to appeal their verdicts.
