CANNES — More than $1 million worth of jewels due to be lent to movie stars at the Cannes film festival were stolen from a hotel room in the French Riviera town on Friday a police source said.
The well-planned robbery at the Novotel Hotel took place in the room of a representative of Chopard, the Swiss-based watch and jewellery-maker and festival sponsor that at that time was hosting a gala event at the 5-star Hotel Martinez across town.
Jean-Michel Caillau, a state prosecutor in nearby Grasse is leading the investigation. Dozens of police are involved in the investigation,
Authorities are going over hotel surveillance cameras and questioning witnesses.
Chopard manufactures the crystal and gold Palme d'Or trophy awarded each year to the festival's top film.
The manager of the Novotel confirmed an internal investigation is underway.
This isn't the first time that there has been a robbery at Cannes. In 2009, a lone gunman walked into a Chopard jewelry store and made off with $8 million worth of jewelry. Also in 2009, a group of armed men wearing Hawaiian shirts and masks riding motorbikes nabbed $21 million in jewelry from a Cartier store.
Next week, Jessica Chastain will wear jewelry from Elizabeth Taylor's collection at a screening of the restored Cleopatra..
Raffaella Rossiello, International Communications Director for Chopard, confirmed at a news conference on Friday evening that jewels had been stolen from the hotel.
"An employee of the Chopard house has been the victim of a robbery last night in their hotel room while they were not on the premises. There is currently a police investigation under way so we can only let you know that the value of the pieces stolen is far lower than those in the figures circulating in the media.
"The jewellery stolen is not part of the collection of the jewels that are worn by actresses during the Cannes Film Festival," she said.
How about asking questions so as to get the underlined answers?
- A police source confirmed that jewels were stolen.
- The jewels were worth $1 million dollars
- Chopard planned to lend the jewels to movie stars
- The jewels were stolen from a hotel room.
- The hotel is in central Cannes.
- An employee of Chopard rented a room at Novotel.
- The incident at the hotel took place on the night of Thursday to Friday
- Authorities are questioning witnesses
- In 2009, a lone gunman walked into a Chopard jewelry store and stole $8 million worth of jewelry.
- Next week, Jessica Chastain will wear jewelry from Elizabeth Taylor's collection at a screening of the restored Cleopatra
