Kim Kardashian’s robbers found guilty in Paris but won’t face prison time

By JOHN LEICESTER and THOMAS ADAMSON
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — A Paris court on Friday found the ringleader and seven other people guilty in the 2016 armed robbery of Kim Kardashian, but decided to keep them out of jail for their roles in what she described as “the most terrifying experience of my life.”

The chief judge, David De Pas, said that the defendants’ ages — the oldest is 79 and some others are in their 60s and 70s — 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 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, robbery 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.”

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 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 jewelry ever recovered.

The robbers, dressed as police, forced their way into the glamorous Hôtel de Pourtalès, bound Kardashian with zip ties and escaped with her jewelry — 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.

Forgiveness

Khedache had said he was only a foot soldier. He blamed a mysterious “X” or “Ben” — someone prosecutors say never existed.

His lawyer pleaded for clemency, pointing to one of the trial’s most visceral moments — Kardashian’s earlier courtroom encounter with the man accused of orchestrating her ordeal. Though she wasn’t present Friday, her words — and the memory of that moment — 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 — a city she would wander at 3 a.m., window shopping, stopping for hot chocolate. That illusion was shattered.

Privacy became luxury

The robbery echoed far 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 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.

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Catherine Gaschka contributed to this report.