Paris Court Sentences Organizer of Donnarumma Robbery to Nine Years in Prison
A Paris court sentenced Ilias Kharbouche to nine years in prison for orchestrating the violent 2023 robbery at the home of footballer Gianluigi Donnarumma and his pregnant partner.
A Paris court has sentenced 21-year-old Ilias Kharbouche to nine years in prison for orchestrating a violent robbery at the home of Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and his partner, Alessia Elefante, in July 2023. Prosecutors had sought a ten-year sentence, stating that Kharbouche planned the crime from behind bars while already incarcerated.
The verdict was handed down overnight between Friday and Saturday following a trial that revealed distressing new details about the home invasion. Meanwhile, a 22-year-old co-defendant, Kiyan Mamouni, who was also accused of organizing the heist and faced a requested nine-year term, was acquitted by the court.
The high-profile break-in occurred when four masked assailants stormed the couple's Paris apartment in the middle of the night, assaulting the doorman, tying up Donnarumma and Elefante, and demanding cash and luxury watches. Elefante, who was pregnant at the time, recounted being beaten and dragged by her hair despite pleading with the attackers about her pregnancy. The gang fled with cash, jewelry, luxury watches, and designer bags valued by Donnarumma at slightly under one million euros.
According to prosecutors, the ordeal carried severe long-term consequences. Elefante suffered a miscarriage shortly after the robbery, a tragedy attributed to the profound trauma of the incident. Additionally, another individual linked to the case took his own life in a prison cell in May 2024.
Throughout the trial, Kharbouche denied orchestrating the robbery, claiming that the mobile phones containing incriminating messages and videos were also used by other individuals. The court rejected his defense and imposed the nine-year prison sentence.
A second defendant who acted as a lookout during the robbery was sentenced to five years in prison, including two years suspended. Prosecutors noted that Kharbouche, who has been in and out of the penal system since the age of 14, is not expected to be released before April 2043.
