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 sensational $10 million heist in which Kardashian was tied up and put 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 an interview published Saturday.
“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 — many of whom were over 60 and dubbed the “grandpa gangsters” by social media — robbed Kardashian of $10 million dollars’ worth of jewelry, including the $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.
He said the gang used the Internet to track down Kardashian and rob her after he noticed her all over 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 for VICE news for a story on influencer robberies, 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 crimes for decades, according to French media, and said he robbed Kardashian because he was short on cash.
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