Kim Kardashian’s Paris robbery trial: Everything you need to know

Published

8 months ago

April 25, 2025

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In October 2016, Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint – with jewellery worth millions of dollars stolen during the audacious heist in Paris.

It was the biggest robbery of an individual in France for more than 20 years – and made front pages around the world.

Now, almost a decade on, the case is finally coming to court.

Why has it taken so long? Will Kardashian give evidence? And who exactly are the “grandpa robbers” facing trial?

Here’s everything you need to know.

What happened?

Two years after Kardashian and rapper Kanye West tied the knot in an ostentatious week-long celebration spanning Paris and Florence, the Kardashian-West clan were back in the French capital for Paris Fashion Week.

Her then husband had returned to the US to pick up his Saint Pablo tour – but Kardashian, along with her sister Kourtney and various members of their entourage, remained in Paris, staying in an exclusive set of apartments so discreet they’ve been dubbed the No Address Hotel.

Nestled on Tronchet Street, just a stone’s throw from Place de l’Opéra, and close to the fashionable Avenue Montaigne, the Hotel de Pourtalès is popular with A-list stars staying in the French capital.

A stay in the Sky Penthouse, the suite occupied by Kardashian, will currently set you back about £13,000 a night.

On the evening of 3 October, after attending a fashion show with her sister, Kardashian remained in the apartment alone while the rest of her convoy – including her bodyguard Pascal Duvier – went out for the night.

At about 2.30am, three armed men wearing ski masks and dressed as police forced their way into the apartment block – and according to investigators, they threatened the concierge at gunpoint.

Two of them are alleged to have forced the concierge to lead them to Kardashian’s suite. He later told police they yelled at him: “Where’s the rapper’s wife?”

Kardashian said she had been “dozing” on her bed when the men then entered her room.

She has said she believes her social media posts provided the alleged robbers with “a window of opportunity”.

“I was Snapchatting that I was home, and that everyone was going out,” she said in the months after the incident.

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star vividly described the attack in a police report, as reported in the French weekly paper Le Journal du Dimanche.

“They grabbed me and took me into the hallway. They tied me up with plastic cables and taped my hands, then they put tape over my mouth and my legs.”

She said they pointed a gun at her, asking specifically for her ring and also for money.

Kardashian says they carried her into the bathroom and put her in the bathtub. She said she was wearing only a bathrobe at the time.

She had initially thought the robbers “were terrorists who had come to kidnap me”, according to a French police report taken in New York three months after the robbery.

Kardashian told officers: “I thought I was going to die.”

According to police, the robbers – who left the room after grabbing their haul, escaped on bicycles with items estimated to be worth about $10m (£7.5m), including a $4m (£3m) 18.88-carat diamond engagement ring from West.

After they had left, Kardashian said she escaped her restraints and went to find help. After speaking to detectives, she immediately returned to the US on a private jet and later hired a completely new security team.

What was stolen?

As well as her engagement ring, Kardashian said the thieves took her large Louis Vuitton jewellery box, which she said contained “everything I owned”.

In police reports given to the French authorities at about 4.30am on the night of the alleged robbery, Kardashian listed these items as having been stolen:

• Two diamond Cartier bracelets
• A gold and diamond Jacob necklace
• Diamond earrings by Lauren Schwartz
• Yanina earrings
• Three gold Jacob necklaces
• Little bracelets, jewels and rings
• A Lauren Schwartz diamond necklace
• A necklace with six little diamonds
• A necklace with Saint spelt out in diamonds
• A cross-shaped diamond-encrusted Jacob cross
• A yellow gold Rolex watch
• Two yellow gold rings
• An iPhone 6 and a BlackBerry

Police recovered only the diamond-encrusted cross that was dropped by the robbers while leaving.

It’s likely the gold in the haul was melted down and resold, while the diamond engagement ring that is now so associated with the robbery would be far too recognisable to sell on the open market.

What will happen in court?

The hearing will begin at the Court of Appeal of Paris – the largest appeals court in France – on 28 April and is scheduled to last a month.

It will consist of a presiding judge, two professional assessors, and six main jurors.

The hearing involves more than 2,000 documents and there are four civil parties.

Who is being tried?

There were initially 12 defendants in the case, but one person has died and another has a medical condition that prevents their involvement. This means 10 people – nine men and one woman – are standing trial.

Five of them, who were all aged between 60 and 72 at the time of the incident, face armed robbery and kidnapping charges. They are:

• Yunice Abbas
• Aomar Ait Khedache
• Harminv Ait Khedache
• Didier Dubreucq
• Marc-Alexandre Boyer

Abbas, 72, has admitted his participation in the robbery. In 2021, he published a book about the robbery, titled I Kidnapped Kim Kardashian. In 2021, a court ruled he would not benefit financially from the book.

Aomar Ait Khedache, 69, known to French crime reporters as “Old Omar”, has also admitted participating in the heist but denies the prosecution’s accusation that he was the ringleader.

The remaining five defendants are charged with complicity in the heist or the unauthorised possession of a weapon. They are:

• Florus Heroui
• Gary Mader
• Christiane Glotin
• François Delaporte
• Marc Boyer

Among those, Mader was a VIP greeter who worked for the car company Kardashian used in Paris, and Heroui was a bar manager who allegedly passed on information about Kardashian’s movements.

With many of the accused now ageing and with various serious health conditions, and some having spent time in jail following their arrest, all are currently free under judicial supervision.

If found guilty, those accused of the more serious crimes could face 10 years to life imprisonment.

Will Kardashian give evidence?

Yes.

Lawyer Michael Rhodes said Kardashian has “tremendous appreciation and admiration for the French judicial system” and “wishes for the trial to proceed in an orderly fashion in accordance with French law and with respect for all parties to the case”.

A trainee lawyer herself, Kardashian has become a high-profile criminal justice advocate in the US in recent years.

Why has it taken so long to come to court?

There was initially a manhunt after the robbery, with French police under pressure to prove that Paris’s security was not in question.

Just the year before in 2015, the capital had been shaken by terrorist attacks by Islamic militants, in which 130 people were killed, including 90 at a music event at the Bataclan theatre.

French police initially arrested 17 people in the Kardashian case in January 2017 – three months after the robbery – assisted by DNA traces found on plastic bands used to tie her wrists. Twelve people were later charged.

It was ordered to be sent to trial in 2021 – at a time when limited court proceedings were happening due to multiple COVID lockdowns, and France was holding its largest ever criminal trial over the November 2015 terror attacks.

What has Kardashian said about the incident?

Kardashian has described the robbery as a “life-changing” moment. She took three weeks away from filming her reality TV show Keeping Up With the Kardashians, and took a three-month break from social media.

In a March 2017 episode titled Paris, Kardashian first spoke publicly about her ordeal.

She described first hearing a noise in her apartment, and calling out, thinking it was her sister and assistant: “At that moment when there wasn’t an answer, my heart started to get really tense. Like, you know, your stomach just kind of like, knots up and you’re like, ‘OK, what’s going on?’ I knew something wasn’t quite right.”

She went on: “They asked for money. I said, ‘I don’t have any money’. They dragged me out to the hallway on top of the stairs. That’s when I saw the gun, clear as day. I was looking at the gun, looking down back at the stairs. I was like, I have a split second in my mind to make this quick decision.

“Either they’re going to shoot me in the back or if I make it [down the stairs] and the elevator does not open in time or the stairs are locked, there’s no way out.”

Three months later, she told a Forbes Power Women’s Summit she had changed her approach to posting on social media: “They had followed my moves on social media, and they knew my every move and what I had.”

She added: “It was definitely a huge, huge, huge lesson for me to not show off some of the things that I have. It was a huge lesson to me to not show off where I go.

“It’s just changed my whole life, but I think for the better.”

In October 2020, Kardashian told US interviewer David Letterman she feared she would be raped and murdered during the heist, and that her sister had been at the forefront of her mind during the incident.

Speaking on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, Kardashian said: “I kept on thinking about Kourtney, I kept on thinking she’s going to come home and I’m going to be dead in the room and she’s going to be traumatised for the rest of her life if she sees me… I thought that was my fate.”

When speaking to French police about the impact the robbery had had on her three months after it, Kardashian said: “I think that my perception of jewellery now is that I am not as attached to it as I used to be. I don’t have the same feeling about it. In fact, I even think that it has become a bit of a burden to have the responsibility of such expensive jewels.

“There is nothing of sentimental value to compare with the act of going home and finding one’s children and one’s family.”

She went on to describe Paris as “not the right place” for her, and didn’t return to the French capital for two years following the robbery.

Kardashian has since said in a 2023 episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians that she did not purchase any jewellery in the seven years following the robbery, kept no jewellery at her home and only wore items that are either borrowed or fake.

She said the realisation that material items don’t matter has made her “a completely different person in the best way”.

Entertainment

Film director Rob Reiner’s son could face death penalty if found guilty of parents’ killings, prosecutors say

Published

5 hours ago

December 16, 2025

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Film director Rob Reiner's son could face death penalty if found guilty of parents' killings, prosecutors say

Rob Reiner’s son Nick could face the death penalty if he is found guilty of murdering his parents, Los Angeles prosecutors have said.

Nick Reiner will be charged with two counts of first degree murder over the killings, district attorney Nathan Hochman said.

The 32-year-old is suspected in the deaths of the 78-year-old director and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner.

“Rob Reiner was a brilliant actor and director, an iconic force in our entertainment industry for decades. His wife, Michel Singer Reine, was an equally iconic photographer and producer,” said Mr Hochman.

“Their loss is beyond tragic. We will commit ourselves to bringing their murderer to justice.”

Prosecutors said they would file the charges – two counts of first degree murder with a special circumstance of multiple murders, later on Tuesday.

They will also include a special allegation he used a dangerous weapon, a knife.

Mr Hochman said the charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty, adding “no decision” has been made with respect to the death penalty.

“This case is heartbreaking and deeply personal, not only for the Reiner family and their loved ones but for our entire city,” LA Police chief Jim McDonnell said.

“We will continue to support the Reiner family and ensure that every step forward is taken with care, dignity and resolve.”

Their tributes were a stark contrast to Donald Trump’s response to the news, which prompted the US president to attack Mr Reiner as “tortured and struggling, but once very talented”.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said Mr Reiner and his wife died “reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME”.

It comes after it emerged Mr Reiner’s son was reportedly disruptive at a party hosted by comedian Conan O’Brien the night before the killings.

Nick Reiner joined his father and mother at the event on Saturday – and the couple were upset and embarrassed about his behaviour, Sky News’ US partner NBC News cited a source as saying.

They also expressed concerns about his health.

The outlet cited another source saying Nick Reiner’s behaviour had made other guests uncomfortable.

They said he interrupted a conversation filmmaker Bill Hader was having with two guests and – when informed it was a private conversation – stood still and stared before storming off.

The couple were found dead from apparent stab wounds at their home in the Brentwood neighbourhood on the west side of Los Angeles.

Nick Reiner did not resist when he was arrested hours later in the Exposition Park area, near the University of Southern California, around four miles from the crime scene, police said.

He had been expected to make an initial court appearance earlier on Tuesday, but his attorney said he was not brought from jail to the courthouse for medical reasons, and the appearance would not happen before Wednesday.

Nick Reiner has not yet entered a plea.

Rob Reiner was a celebrated director, whose work included some of the most memorable films of the 1980s and 1990s, including This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally and A Few Good Men.

He met Michele Singer in 1989, while directing When Harry Met Sally, and they had three children together.

Michele used to work as a photographer and took the photo of Donald Trump that appears on the cover of his book Trump: The Art Of The Deal.

Entertainment

Rob Reiner death: ‘Sick’ Trump sparks backlash with ‘disgusting’ post about murdered film director

Published

1 day ago

December 16, 2025

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Rob Reiner death: 'Sick' Trump sparks backlash with 'disgusting' post about murdered film director

Donald Trump has been branded “a sick man ” after launching an extraordinary attack against murdered film director Rob Reiner.

The Hollywood luminary was found stabbed to death with his wife on Sunday – and the filmmaker’s son had been arrested on murder charges.

Reacting to news of his death, the US president said in a post on Truth Social that Reiner was “tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star”.

Mr Trump said Reiner and his wife died “reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS”.

“He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before. May Rob and Michele rest in peace,” Mr Trump wrote.

Celebrities and politicians have criticised Mr Trump for his comments, labelling them “disgusting” and “petty”.

‘Can you get any lower?’

“What a disgusting and vile statement,” actor Patrick Schwarzenegger said on X, while Californian Democrat Zoe Lofgren condemned Mr Trump’s comments as “a new low for this petty, hateful man”.

Talk show host Whoopi Goldberg compared the president’s comments to those he made after the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, when Mr Trump hit out at critics.

“I don’t understand the man in the White House. He spoke at length about Charlie Kirk and about caring, and then this is what he puts out. Have you no shame? No shame at all? Can you get any lower? I don’t think so,” she said.

‘Sick’

“This is a sick man,” California governor Gavin Newsom wrote on X.

Republican US House member Thomas Massie also addressed the comments, saying: “Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered.”

Meanwhile, Reiner’s son, Nick, 32, has been “booked for murder”, Los Angeles police chief Jim McDonnell said. The LAPD later said Nick Reiner remains in custody without bail.

Mr McDonnell said the department’s robbery and homicide division was handling the investigation.

“They worked throughout the night on this case and were able to take into custody Nick Reiner, a suspect in this case,” he said, calling the deaths “a very tragic incident”.

It comes as it emerged Nick was reportedly disruptive when he joined his father and mother, Michele Singer Reiner, at a party hosted by comedian Conan O’Brien on Saturday night, the day before the killings.

Reiner and his wife were upset and embarrassed about their son’s behaviour, Sky News’s US partner NBC News cited a source as saying, and expressed concerns about his health.

The outlet cited another source saying Nick’s behaviour had made other guests uncomfortable. They said he interrupted a conversation comedian and filmmaker Bill Hader was having with two guests and, when told it was a private conversation, stood still and stared before storming off.

Reiner and his wife apparently died of stab wounds, US media reported.

The Los Angeles Fire Department said a 78-year-old man and a 68-year-old woman were found dead inside a property in the Brentwood neighbourhood, without identifying the victims. The victims were later confirmed to be Reiner and his wife.

The case against Nick Reiner will be presented to the Los Angeles county district attorney’s office for filing consideration on Tuesday, according to the LAPD.

Nick Reiner has spoken publicly of his struggles with addiction after he had cycled in and out of treatment facilities by the age of 18, with periods of homelessness and relapses in between.

Reiner and his son explored their difficult relationship and Nick Reiner’s struggles with heroin addiction and homelessness in a 2016 film called Being Charlie, which they co-wrote.

Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene referred to Nick Reiner’s “drug addiction and other issues” in a statement on X.

“This is a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies,” Ms Taylor Greene said.

“Many families deal with a family member with drug addiction and mental health issues. It’s incredibly difficult and should be met with empathy especially when it ends in murder.”

Reiner was a celebrated director whose work included some of the most memorable movies of the 1980s and 1990s.

He directed classics such as This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men and Stand By Me.

He also acted, starring in Sleepless In Seattle and The Wolf Of Wall Street among others. His most recent high-profile work was a recurring guest role in the hit show The Bear.

He met Michele Singer in 1989, while directing When Harry Met Sally. They have three children together.

Singer used to work as a photographer and took the photo of Donald Trump that appears on the cover of his book Trump: The Art Of The Deal.

Former US president Barack Obama has led tributes. He wrote on X that “Michelle and I are heartbroken by the tragic passing of Rob Reiner and his beloved wife, Michele. Rob’s achievements in film and television gave us some of our most cherished stories on screen”.

Harry Shearer, who collaborated with Reiner on This Is Spinal Tap, said in a statement: “Rob was a friend and collaborator through much of my life. He was funny, he was smart, he was a mensch.”

He said Reiner’s wife was a “very good friend” to his own wife, Judith, adding: “This is unspeakable, the stuff of Greek tragedy.”

Christopher Guest, who starred in Reiner’s films This Is Spinal Tap and The Princess Bride, and his wife Jamie Lee Curtis said in a joint statement that they were “numb and sad and shocked about the violent, tragic deaths of our dear friends Rob and Michelle Singer Reiner”.

The couple said: “There will be plenty of time later to discuss the creative lives we shared and the great political and social impact they both had on the entertainment industry, early childhood development, the fight for gay marriage and their global care for a world in crisis. We have lost great friends. Please give us time to grieve.”

Reiner was a champion of liberal causes and a political activist.

In the 2004 presidential election, he backed Democrat candidate John Kerry and featured in advertisements taking aim at incumbent president George W Bush.

Reiner also supported Democratic presidential hopefuls Al Gore and Hillary Clinton.

“This is a devastating loss for our city and our country. Rob Reiner’s contributions reverberate throughout American culture and society, and he has improved countless lives through his creative work and advocacy fighting for social and economic justice,” Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass said.

California governor Mr Newsom paid tribute to Reiner’s activism as he said he was “heartbroken” over the director’s death.

“Rob was a passionate advocate for children and for civil rights – from taking on Big Tobacco, fighting for marriage equality, to serving as a powerful voice in early education,” Mr Newsom said in a statement.

“He made California a better place through his good works. Rob will be remembered for his remarkable filmography and for his extraordinary contribution to humanity.”

Former House speaker, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, said: “Personally, Rob cared deeply about people and demonstrated that in his civic activities – whether by supporting the First 5 initiative or fighting against Prop 8 in California.

“Civically, he was a champion for the First Amendment and the creative rights of artists. And professionally, he was an iconic figure in film who made us laugh, cry and think with the movies he created.”

Entertainment

Trump sues BBC for $5bn in defamation lawsuit

Published

1 day ago

December 16, 2025

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Trump sues BBC for bn in defamation lawsuit

Donald Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against the BBC, alleging the corporation’s Panorama documentary portrayed him in a “false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious” manner.

The complaint relates to the broadcaster’s editing of a speech he made in 2021 on the day his supporters overran the Capitol building.

Clips were spliced together from sections of the US president‘s speech on January 6 2021 to make it appear he told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them to “fight like hell”.

It aired in the documentary Trump: A Second Chance?, which was broadcast by the BBC the week before last year’s US election.

The US president is seeking damages of no less than $5bn (£3.7bn).

He has also sued for $5bn for alleged violation of a trade practices law. Both lawsuits have been filed in Florida.

‘They put words in my mouth’

Speaking in the Oval Office earlier on Monday, he said: “In a little while, you’ll be seeing I’m suing the BBC for putting words in my mouth.

“Literally, they put words in my mouth. They had me saying things that I never said coming out.”

The scandal erupted earlier this year after a leaked memo highlighted concerns over the way the clips were edited.

After the leak, BBC chair Samir Shah apologised on behalf of the broadcaster over an “error of judgement” and accepted the editing of the 2024 documentary gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action”.

The fallout from the saga led to the resignation of both the BBC director-general Tim Davie and the head of news Deborah Turness.

Earlier, BBC News reported the broadcaster had set out five main arguments in a letter to Mr Trump’s legal team as to why it did not believe there was a basis for a defamation claim.

In November, the BBC officially apologised to the president, adding that it was an “error of judgement” and saying the programme will “not be broadcast again in this form on any BBC platforms”.

A spokesperson said “the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited,” but they also added that “we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim”.