17 Arrested in Connection with Kim Kardashian’s Paris Robbery, Which May Have Been an Inside Job

(Instagram/KimKardashian)

Back in October, five armed men disguised as police broke into Kim Kardashian’s Paris apartment in the middle of the night, robbed her of $11 million worth of jewelry, and left her bound, gagged, and blindfolded in the bathtub. In a recent promotion for the new season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, the mother of two was crying when she said she was sure they were going to shoot her in the back after they tied her up. Her security guard was also assaulted and left tied up in a hallway.

The uglier parts of humanity insisted on blaming Kardashian for her own assault and robbery, seemingly under the impression that a woman who has posed nude implicitly gives up all right to control of her own body, privacy, and possessions from that moment on. Still others suggested that Kardashian must have orchestrated the attack on her own for publicity, which is pretty far-fetched.

French police have been taking the assault and robbery very seriously, and this week French police finally arrested 17 suspects in connection with the assault and robbery, and police say this may have been an inside job, because one of the suspects was allegedly Kim Kardashian’s limo driver in Paris. According to People, the man who drove her to her apartment that night is being investigated for possibly having tipped off the assailants to her location, and when she would be there alone.

Kardashian’s mother and sisters were in Paris for Fashion Week at the time, but they were staying at a different hotel. Kardashian was staying at an private luxury apartment in a secret place called the “No Address Hotel.” It’s a high-end luxury hotel in what used to be a private mansion, and it’s designed to be private and secure. Guests have to register in advance with a private website, and the hotel has secret entrances and exits so celebrities and dignitaries can avoid being spotted by paparazzi.

In addition to the driver, police arrested five people they say are the men in masks who actually threatened Kardashian with guns and broke into her apartment. One of them was reportedly identified by DNA evidence from the tape they used to tie her up so she couldn’t escape or call for help.

Seventeen people were arrested in total, including three women, and one 72-year-old man. The old guy is reportedly a known counterfeiter, and police suspect that he was the ringleader who thought up and organized the whole attack and robbery. Others involved in the arrest are several older men who arranged to help sell the jewelry. Kardashian’s diamond engagement ring was worth $4.5 million on its own, and a big, frequently photographed piece like that is not something that can just be pawned easily.

Kardashian was “badly shaken” by the traumatic event, and she’s been absent from social media for months. She reappeared again at the start of 2017, quietly posting a few slightly blurry, retro-looking photos of her family to Instagram. She’s reportedly happy to know that the investigation is proceeding so well and that police think they’ve caught the criminals responsible, but US Weekly reports that as part of the investigation and trial, she’s going to have to watch video of the people who allegedly attacked her. That’s probably going to be rough. But it must be good to know that they’ve caught the people who did it.