Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

‘Pink Panther’ Heist of Jewish Diamond King Lev Leviev in Cannes Soars to $136M

The theft of diamonds and jewels owned by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev could be the largest jewelry heist in years after the worth of the stolen jewels was estimated at $136 million.

A masked gunman stole the diamonds and jewels from an exhibition at a luxury resort in Cannes on Sunday afternoon. The thief threatened the exhibition staff and visitors at the Carlton Hotel, filled a briefcase with the jewels and fled in an operation that lasted about a minute, police told the Associated Press.

Immediately following the robbery, police estimated the value of the stolen jewels to be $53 million. A more complete inventory of the stolen jewelry puts the value at some $136 million, the AP reported Tuesday.

Private security guards had protected the exhibit.

The display about the Leviev diamond house at the prestigious Carlton Hotel had been scheduled to run through August.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.