Yunis Abbas, who spent almost two years in prison for his involvement in Kim Kardashian‘s terrifying Paris robbery in October 2016, blamed the reality star for the incident in a new interview. “Since she was throwing money away, I was there to collect it, and that was that,” he told Vice News in the video interview published August 20. Yunis, who was released from jail after 22 months due to health issues, also expressed zero regret masterminding the plot against Kim, 41. “Guilty? No, I don’t care,” he said.
Yunis and his fellow thieves — who were dubbed the “grandpa gangsters” — stole $10 million worth of jewelry from Kim, including her $4 million engagement ring from then-husband Kanye West. “They should be a little less showy towards people who can’t afford it,” Yunis said in the interview about Kim and other rich celebrities who showcase their wealth on social media, adding, “For some people, it’s provocative.” He also recalled how the robbers used social media to track down the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star and ambushed her in the hotel that night. “I was on the internet, and it’s true, i saw her jewelry, I saw her ring, I saw that she showed it everywhere, we knew this information through social media,” Yunis explained.
On the night of the incident, Yunis waited downstairs while his associates successfully robbed Kim and then they all got away. “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,” he recalled. “And when we got out, there was a bunch of police outside who didn’t know anything about the robbery.” Yunis has no regrets about the incident, though he does recognize that Kim must’ve been scarred afterwards. “You don’t come out of it unscathed. Of course she must have been traumatized,” he said.
Kim has openly discussed the robbery and how traumatized she was since it happened. During her appearance on Netflix’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman in 2020, the mom of four explained how she thought she was going to be raped, and then killed, when the thieves took her hostage in her hotel room. But instead, they tied Kim up and left her in the bathtub as they stole her jewelry.
A total of 12 men, including Yunis, were arrested in connection to Kim’s robbery. Most of them stood trial last fall. Yunis wrote the memoir I Kidnapped Kim Kardashian, which was released in 2021 and details the terrifying incident.