A decade after robbers stormed Kim Kardashian's luxury residence and tied her up at gunpoint, a Paris court is set Friday to decide the verdict in one of the most audacious celebrity heists in modern French history.
Nine men and a woman stand accused of carrying out - or aiding - the crime during the 2016 Paris Fashion Week, when masked men dressed as police entered Kardashian's Paris home, bound her with zip-ties and vanished with 6 million in jewels.
At the heart of the trial is 70-year-old Aomar Ait Khedache, a veteran of Paris' criminal underworld. Prosecutors have asked for a 10-year sentence. His DNA, found on the zip-ties used to bind Kardashian, cracked open the case. Wiretaps captured him giving orders, recruiting accomplices, and arranging to sell the diamonds in Belgium. The loot was never found.
Khedache claims he was only a foot soldier. He blamed a mysterious "X" or "Ben" - someone prosecutors say never existed.
The accused became known in France as "les papys braqueurs" - the grandpa robbers. Some arrived in court in orthopedic shoes and one leaned on a cane. Some read the proceedings from a screen, hard of hearing and nearly mute. But prosecutors warned observers not to be seduced by soft appearances.