Flaunty-taunty Kim
Kardashian bling thief: She was too ‘showy’
One of the masterminds behind the 2016 Paris hotel robbery of Kim Kardashian has blamed his famous victim for the crime, saying she “should be a little less showy.”
Yunis Abbas spent nearly two years in prison for the shocking $10 million heist in which Kardashian was tied up and kept in the bathtub of her hotel room by robbers posing as cops.
“Since she was throwing money away, I was there to collect it, and that was that. Guilty? No, I don’t care,” Abbas sniffed to Vice News in a new interview.
“They should be a little less showy towards people who can’t afford it,” he said of Kardashian and other celebrities who flaunt their wealth online. “For some people, it’s provocative.”
The thieves — dubbed the “grandpa gangsters” on social media because many were older than 60 — robbed Kardashian of $10 million worth of jewelry in the Oct. 3, 2016, heist, including a $4 million, 20-carat engagement ring given to her by Kanye West.
Abbas, who is in his late 60s, was one of 12 people nabbed for the Paris Fashion Week caper. He was released from prison after 22 months for health reasons apparently related to his heart.
Tracked on social media
He said the gang used the Internet to track down Kardashian and rob her after he noticed her on social media flashing her jewels.
Abbas said he stayed downstairs in the hotel to keep guard while his co-conspirators tied up the reality star in the hotel bathtub.
“Madame Kardashian’s secretary called for help. But she called 911 in the United States, which scared us, which made them lose a lot of time. And when we got out, there was a bunch of police outside who didn’t know anything about the robbery,” he said.
Kardashian has repeatedly spoken about the traumatizing incident, saying it left her fearful and constantly anxious.
“You don’t come out of it unscathed,” Abbas acknowledged, adding, “Of course she must have been traumatized.”
Abbas, who was interviewed as part of a Vice report on thieves’ use of social media to target wealthy celebrities, has spoken about the heist before, even writing a memoir called “I Kidnapped Kim Kardashian.”
He has been in and out of jail on various charges for decades, according to French media, and previously said he robbed Kardashian because he was short on cash.