500,000 euros in goods stolen from Russian billionaire’s Paris home

PARIS: Burglars in Paris made off with over 500,000 euros ($588,000) in fur coats, jewellery, handbags and other luxury goods after breaking into the home of Russian billionaire Nikolai Sarkisov, a police source said on Wednesday.

Sarkisov, 52, is the co-founder along with his brother of RESO-Guarantee, one of Russia’s biggest insurance companies. His 600-square-metre (6,500 square-foot) duplex is situated on Avenue Foch, one of the most expensive streets in the French capital, near the Champs-Elysees.

The thieves struck in broad daylight last week while the businessman was away in the Mediterranean resort of Saint-Tropez. The alarm was raised on Friday by a neighbour who found the door open, the source said.

Sarkisov is yet to return to Paris and make a full inventory of the missing items, the source said. The international jet set have been targeted in several robberies and muggings in Paris in recent years. American reality TV star Kim Kardashian was held up at gunpoint while visiting Paris for fashion week in October 2016 and robbed of some nine million euros in jewels.