An audacious daylight theft of diamonds and other jewels, on exhibit from Lev Leviev’s diamond house, at a hotel in Cannes this weekend may have netted the perpetrator $136 million in loot, the Associated Press reported earlier today. The theft which occurred at the Carlton International Hotel had previously been estimated at over $50 million, according to various reports.
According to officials, the theft occurred around noon and was perpetrated by a single masked man who held up participants of the exhibit with a handgun.
“He took a bag containing a briefcase and a small box, and then fled,” Philippe Vique, assistant prosecutor in nearby Grasse, told the AP.
Mr. Leviev, an Israeli diamond and real estate investor, most recently ranked number 974 on the Forbes list of billionaires and has an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion. He is perhaps best known in New York real estate circles for his bubble-era investments in properties such as the former headquarters of The New York Times, through Africa Israel USA.
