Nearly 10 years after Kim Kardashian was tied up at gunpoint and robbed of millions of dollars in jewelry in Paris, a French court has awarded her damages of just one euro.
The amount sounds strikingly small, but it was not a defeat for Kardashian. The €1, worth about $1.15, was exactly what she had requested in the civil damages case, according to the Associated Press.
Kardashian and her childhood friend and stylist Simone Harouche said afterward that the ruling was about “accountability and recognition”. Harouche, who was also inside the Paris residence when the robbery occurred, requested and received the same symbolic amount.
The September 15 ruling comes more than a year after eight defendants were convicted for their roles in the 2016 heist. Most of the jewelry stolen from Kardashian has never been recovered, including the approximately $4 million diamond engagement ring she received from then-husband Kanye West.
The €1 Award Was the Amount Kardashian Asked the Court to Give Her
Kardashian had specifically sought the symbolic sum from some of the people convicted in the robbery, a lawyer representing another victim told Reuters.
She and Harouche later issued a joint statement thanking the French justice system for formally recognizing them as victims and saying the impact of the robbery remained with them nearly a decade later.
“Today’s decision is not about the compensation, but about accountability and recognition,” they said in the statement reported by the Associated Press. They added that they hoped to continue healing and move forward.
The other victims did not all request symbolic awards. A former receptionist at the Hôtel de Pourtalès, where Kardashian was staying, received €109,516, approximately $126,000, after arguing that the robbery had left him traumatized. He had sought €550,000 in damages and interest. The court also awarded the hotel €50,000, approximately $57,700.
Kardashian Told the Court She Thought She Was Going to Die
Kardashian returned to Paris in May 2025 to testify in person about the night of the robbery, bringing her face-to-face with defendants nearly nine years after the attack.
During several hours of testimony, she described starting to doze off when she heard footsteps outside her room. She initially thought the noise might be her sister Kourtney returning, but two masked men dressed as police entered with the hotel’s night receptionist, who had been placed in handcuffs.
The attackers threw Kardashian onto the bed, restrained her hands with zip ties and held a gun to her back. She testified that her robe fell open as one of the men pulled her toward him and that she became convinced she was about to be sexually assaulted. She also believed she might be killed. “I absolutely did think I was gonna die,” she told the court.
Kardashian said she pleaded with the men to let her survive for her children. After the robbers left, she managed to free her hands, found Harouche and hid with her on a balcony before calling her mother.
The robbery permanently changed the way Kardashian approached security and travel. She testified that she developed a fear of going out, no longer stores jewelry at home, often rents adjoining hotel rooms for protection and cannot comfortably sleep without security nearby.
She Forgave One of the Men but Said the Trauma Remained
One of the most closely watched moments of Kardashian’s testimony came when the court read an apology written by Aomar Aït Khedache, whom the court later identified as the ringleader of the robbery. Khedache had written the letter after his arrest. Kardashian became emotional as it was read aloud before the two addressed each other in court.
She told Khedache that she forgave him but made clear that forgiveness did not erase what happened or the way it had changed her life, according to the BBC. Kardashian also connected that position to her work advocating for criminal justice reform. She told the court that she believed in second chances while emphasizing that the emotional consequences of the robbery remained.
Eight Defendants Were Convicted but None Returned to Prison
The criminal case concluded on May 23, 2025, when a Paris court found eight of the 10 defendants guilty of crimes connected to the robbery and acquitted two others.
Aït Khedache received the harshest sentence, eight years in prison, with five suspended. Because of time he had already spent in pretrial detention, he did not return to prison, according to the Associated Press.
Three other defendants received seven-year sentences with five years suspended, while others received shorter or mostly suspended terms. With time already served, none of the eight people found guilty went back to prison.
The court said the defendants’ ages, health problems and the nearly nine-year delay between the robbery and trial factored into the sentences. Six of the defendants were in their 60s and 70s, helping give the group its French media nickname, “les papys braqueurs,” or the “grandpa robbers.”
Kardashian did not return to Paris for the verdict. Her attorney Léonor Hennerick told reporters outside court that Kardashian had wanted justice and that “justice has been served.” The convictions later became final. The Associated Press reported with the September 2026 civil ruling that none of the defendants appealed.
Most of the Stolen Jewelry Was Never Found
The robbery happened during Paris Fashion Week on October 2, 2016, while Kardashian was staying at the Hôtel de Pourtalès.Two men dressed as police forced their way into her suite after overpowering the hotel’s night receptionist. Kardashian was bound with zip ties and tape while the group stole more than $6 million in jewelry.
The most recognizable item was the approximately $4 million diamond engagement ring Kardashian had received from West. The ring has never been recovered, and Reuters reported that most of the stolen jewelry remains missing.
The robbery was considered France’s largest heist in roughly two decades at the time. Investigators eventually used DNA, wiretaps and other evidence to reconstruct the operation. DNA found on the bands used to bind Kardashian helped break open the case.