Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint on Oct. 6, 2016
The trial against the 10 suspects began on April 28, 2025
Kardashian testified about her emotional experience on May 13
Kim Kardashian was robbed during Paris Fashion Week in 2016, and the trial for the suspects involved in the armed robbery began almost nine years later on April 28, 2025.
Ten suspects appeared in court in the French capital to hear The Kardashians star’s testimony where she emotionally spoke about how she thought she was “absolutely” going to die and “be raped” during the traumatic moment.
On the night of Oct. 6, 2016, Kardashian was by herself in her room at the No Address Hotel in Paris when five men dressed as policemen broke in, tied up her feet and hands and gagged her before putting her in a bathtub. While Kardashian was begging for her life, the men rummaged through her belongings and stole roughly millions of dollars worth of jewelry from her.
“They put plastic ties around her wrists, but she managed to squeeze her hands out of the wrist ties by wriggling her hands,” a source close to Kardashian told PEOPLE in 2016.
After freeing her hands, Kardashian ran to her longtime friend Simone Harouche’s room and sought help. They quickly contacted authorities, and she later discovered that the thieves had stolen a $4 million ring from then-husband Kanye West, two diamond Cartier bracelets, a gold and diamond Jacob necklace, Lorraine Schwartz diamond earrings and a gold Rolex. The only piece that has been found was a diamond and platinum cross pendant that one of the robbers accidentally dropped while fleeing.
By January 2017, French police had arrested 17 people in connection with the robbery. Ten of the suspects — including the men who were present and five alleged accomplices — came face-to-face with Kardashian while standing trial for their alleged crimes. The group of suspects has been nicknamed the “Grandpa robbers” by French media because of their ages and criminal history.
The trial was postponed several times because of its complexity, but Kardashian took the stand to testify against the suspects on May 13. She notably wore an all-black outfit with plenty of diamonds on her person.
Here’s everything to know about Kim Kardashian’s 2016 Paris armed robbery and the 2025 trial.
What happened during Kim Kardashian’s Paris robbery?
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Kim Kardashian opens up about being robbed in Paris.
Kardashian was in Paris with her sisters Kourtney Kardashian and Kendall Jenner and mom Kris Jenner for Paris Fashion Week in October 2016.
However, on the night of Oct. 6, 2016, Kourtney — who was sharing a room with Kardashian at the No Address Hotel — and Kendall decided to go out, while Kardashian wanted to stay back. Since Kourtney was leaving the premises, Kardashian let Kourtney bring their shared security guard, Pascal Duvier, to the club with them.
Kardashian was relaxing in a bathrobe in her hotel room when she heard loud noises outside her hotel room, and she realized, “I knew someone was there to get me. You just feel it,” she said in an October 2020 episode of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman.
Five masked men dressed as police officers subsequently appeared with the hotel’s concierge, who unlocked the doors for them while being handcuffed and held at gunpoint.
“They ask for money. I said I don’t have any money,” she told sisters Khloé Kardashian and Kourtney in a 2017 episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. “They dragged me out on to the hallway on top of the stairs. That’s when I saw the gun clear, like clear as day. I was kind of looking at the gun, looking down back at the stairs.”
She recalled thinking, “I was like; ‘I have a split second in my mind to make this quick decision. Am I going to run down the stairs and either be shot in the back? It makes me so upset to think about it. Either they’re going to shoot me in the back, or if I make it and they don’t, if the elevator does not open in time, or the stairs are locked, then like I’m f—–. There’s no way out.”
The men forced her to take off her engagement ring from West before they bound her feet and hands. They allegedly pointed a gun at her while putting tape around her hands and mouth and zip ties around her ankles. At that same time, Kardashian was still only wearing a robe and feared that she was going to get assaulted.
However, the suspects left her alone in the bathroom tub and took off on bikes after stealing the jewelry. Kardashian was able to get the tape off her hands and her mouth, so she “screamed from the balcony” for help, a source told PEOPLE at the time.
Her longtime friend Harouche was staying in a separate room and heard the screams. Harouche cut off Kardashian’s zip ties, and they ran and hid in the bushes outside the hotel until the local police arrived. Kardashian stayed in Paris until the morning after, when she gave a statement to the police.
Kardashian later theorized that the robbers knew she was in the room by herself because she was “Snapchatting that I was home and that everyone was going out.”
Who was arrested for robbing Kim Kardashian?
Magali Cohen / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty ; BERTRAND GUAY/AFP via Getty
Defendant Yunice Abbas arrives at the Assize Court of Paris on April 28, 2025 in Paris, France ; Defendant Aomar Ait Khedache arrives at the Assize Court of Paris on April 28, 2025 in Paris, France.
After Kardashian contacted authorities over the robbery, they immediately began compiling DNA evidence, security camera footage and firsthand accounts.
In January 2017, French police had arrested 17 people, and 12 people were later charged. However, only 10 of those 12 are standing trial, as one suspect died before the trial and another is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and was deemed unfit to stand trial, according to CNN.
The defendants have been called the “Grandpa robbers” because many of them were born in the 1950s. Among the arrested group is Aomar Ait Khedache. Khedache is believed to be the mastermind behind the robbery, and although he has confessed to his participation, he has denied being the orchestrator.
After Khedache was arrested in 2017, he wrote a letter to Kardashian from prison where he apologized to her and expressed “how much I regret my actions.”
“Of course, we cannot undo the past but I hope this letter will make you gradually forget the traumatism you experienced through my fault,” he wrote.
Kardashian read the letter during the trial and told him in court on May 13, per NBC, “I do appreciate the letter. I forgive you for what had taken place but it doesn’t change the emotions, the feeling and the trauma and the fact that my life has forever changed.”
The second man to admit involvement is Yunice Abbas, who co-wrote a 2021 book about the robbery titled I Kidnapped Kim Kardashian. Abbas testified in court that he “regret[ted]” his actions, because it brought “trauma” to Kardashian, per NBC. Abbas also claimed that he didn’t know who Kardashian was prior to the robbery.
The rest of the eight suspects — seven men and one woman — have pleaded not guilty. Khedache’s son, Harminy, is also among the men arrested and is accused of being the getaway driver. Didier “Blue Eyes” Dubreucq, Gary Madar, Christiane Glotin are also among the primary defendants.
Why did it take years for the robbers to go to trial?
MAGALI COHEN/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty
Defendant Yunice Abbas arrives for the trial for the 2016 robbery and kidnapping of Kim Kardashian on April 28, 2025 at the Assize Court of Paris.
Kardashian testified against the people who allegedly robbed her nearly nine years after the incident took place and eight years after the arrests were made.
The trial ended up taking a backseat after the arrests for a number of reasons — including the suspects’ ages, the number of suspects and other issues happening in Paris.
Crime reporter Patricia Tourancheau told the BBC that authorities were still dealing with the aftermath of the 2015 terrorist attacks and subsequent attacks that followed. She also pointed out that the defendants’ ages and health issues didn’t make them a top priority, because they most likely wouldn’t be spending much time in prison. The trial also may have been delayed because only one piece of stolen jewelry was recovered from the heist.
What has Kim Kardashian said about the robbery during the trial?
BENOIT PEYRUCQ/AFP via Getty
Court sketch of Kim Kardashian testifying before the Assize Court for the trial over the 2016 robbery that saw her relieved of millions of dollars’ worth of jewellery at gunpoint on May 13, 2025 in Paris.
The trial began in Paris on April 28, and PEOPLE previously confirmed that Kardashian would be traveling to the city to testify in front of her robbers in person.
“Kim’s a bit nervous, but she always said that she wanted to testify in person,” a source told PEOPLE ahead of her testimony. “This is her choice. She was terrified for her life during the robbery. She wants the people involved convicted.”
On May 13, Kardashian arrived at the Palais de Justice court to testify.
The SKIMS founder took the stand and shared her emotional side of the story, where she spoke about her thoughts during the robbery and how it affected her.
“I absolutely did think I was gonna die,” she said, according to the BBC.
Kardashian also explained that she was only wearing a robe at the time of the incident, so when one of the men pulled her toward him, he was “exposing everything on my body.”
“I was sure that I was going to be raped,” she said. However, the robbers instead bound her ankles, hands and mouth.
Kardashian said that she repeatedly told the masked men, “I have babies and I need to get home to my babies,” and said she thought one of them told her to “shut up” at one point, per NBC News.
After realizing that the men were more interested in her jewelry than in her, she didn’t feel any more at ease and still feared for her life. She specifically worried about getting shot and having Kourtney, Kris or Harouche find her dead.
“At that point I was sure that’s when they were going to shoot me,” she said, according to the BBC. “So I said a prayer for my family and my mom and my sister and best friend … I would be shot dead on the bed and she would see that and have that memory forever.”
Before the robbers left the hotel on bikes, Kardashian claimed that they dropped her on the bathroom floor. She waited a few minutes to make sure that they had left before she got the tape off her hands and mouth and went to Harouche’s room for help.
Read the original article on People
