Kim Kardashians Hotel Concierge Critical Witness in Jewelry Heist, Reports Claim - Daily Beast
Speculation is mounting that the Kardashian jewel-heist gang may have had inside help, while a friend of the reality-TV star tells reporters she is struggling in the aftermath of the attack.
A concierge at the private apartment complex in Paris where Kim Kardashian was staying when she was robbed of a reported $10 million in jewelry has become a “critical witness” in the investigation, sources connected to the case tell TMZ.
The claim comes as speculation grows that the robbers, who apparently knew their way into and around the apartment, must have had inside help on the audacious job.
A former member of the Pink Panther crime network this week speculated to The Daily Beast, “This was a preplanned inside job and they pulled it off. It’s only a couple of pieces of jewelry. Five guys went in, they got the concierge, got him to open Kardashian’s room. They went in, tied her up, gagged her, and took the jewelry and left on bicycles.”
Former bodyguard Steve Stanulis, 42, told British TV show Good Morning Britain that he thought the hit was “100 percent an inside job.”
The website TMZ reported that Kardashian had an “extensive” interview with French police Tuesday and that the role of the concierge at the exclusive Hôtel de Pourtalès, a boutique inn popular with celebrities visiting Paris, despite its minimal security, is now becoming a “critical” focus of inquiries.
TMZ says Kardashian told cops that the concierge was brought up to the apartment in a private elevator by the gang and “opened the door” to her apartment.
Kardashian reportedly told police of the concierge, whose hands were cuffed, “He opened the door and led them [the robbers] up and was in there the whole time.” TMZ also reports Kardashian “made a point to cops that the concierge was extremely calm, despite being cuffed and held at gunpoint.”
Kardashian’s personal bodyguard was out clubbing with her sisters at the time of the robbery, and Kim was seen on Snapchat flashing her massive 20-carat emerald-cut ring Sunday night, shortly before her five attackers struck.
They escaped on “velibs”—free city bicycles that can be used without charge all over Paris.
Kardashian is said to be “traumatized” by the Paris fashion week robbery, which happened while husband Kanye West was performing onstage in New York. Her friend Jonathan Cheban, a regular on her show Keeping Up With the Kardashians, told reporters, “She’s not doing so good,” as he entered her building.
Meanwhile, one possible lucky break for detectives has come after they are said to have located CCTV footage of the gang apparently shot by a camera at a nail salon a stone’s throw from Kim’s luxury apartment.
The British Sun newspaper reports a mezzanine-level camera inside the store was facing a large mirror outside that “perfectly reflected the gang as they walked into the small retail and restaurant area to make their getaway.”
