Paris police chief Christian Sainte opened up about the Kim Kardashian robbery that rocked the city in a revealing interview with Vanity Fair.
Sainte told the magazine that he was unaware of Kardashian’s identity prior to the reality star’s robbery on Oct. 3. All of that changed overnight when the TV personality was held at gunpoint and robbed of millions of dollars’ worth of jewelry by men posing as cops.
Sainte told Vanity Fair, “At this time, there is no doubt about the reality of the crime.”
The nature of the crime ― a home robbery, or “home-jacking” ― is one that Vanity Fair said is on the rise in Paris, after electronic security measures made robbing banks more difficult, and high taxes led people to store their cash and valuables at home. Paris police writer Frédéric Ploquin told the outlet that the criminals who carry out these kind of heists now represent a “new type of gangster in France.”
Though the police chief couldn’t give specific details about the nature of the investigation, he did say that Kardashian was “giving information on social media all the time.” Some have speculated that the robbers tracked the reality star’s jewelry on her social media accounts.
The 36-year-old was staying at the No Address Hotel (the Hôtel de Pourtalès) when the jewelry heist occurred. Though the hotel is well-known for its high-profile clientele, fashion designer Christophe Guillarmé confirmed that its security presence was ― and is ― lacking. The designer told VF that he was at a party at the hotel while Kardashian was staying there.
“It was like a joke, like she’s upstairs while we are partying,” he said. “There was no bodyguard at the front door, no bodyguard inside. There was a girl at the entrance, who asked, ‘Are you coming to the party?’ And if you said yes, she let you in.”
Kardashian has yet to comment on the terrifying incident. Her assistant, Stephanie Sheppard, recently said the reality star is “taking some much needed time off.”
To read the rest of Vanity Fair’s investigation, head here.
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