Second Jewelry Theft Hits Cannes Film Festival
A second jewelry theft has struck the Cannes Film Festival, only days after thieves stole pieces by Swiss jewelers Chopard from the Novotel hotel.
A necklace which was worth in excess of $2.5 million vanished after a celebrity party on Tuesday evening at a five-star hotel in Cap d’Antibes, a resort town near the cinematic extravaganza.
The Swiss jeweler De Grisogono designed the piece, and the theft managed to occur despite the installment of 80 security guards as part of “large security measures” to avoid such an occurrence.
The party was held at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc on Tuesday evening, which was organised to celebrate De Grisogono’s 20th anniversary, and saw the likes of Ornella Muti and Sharon Stone attend.
In the past De Grisogono has loaned its product to various celebrities which has included Cameron Diaz and Paris Hilton. The company released a statement, noting, “It is actually the first time it has happened in our 20-year history.”
Last Friday, robbers broke into a room owned by a Chopard employee at Novotel Hotel in central Cannes before taking $1million of jewelry. Apparently they took the safe off the wall and carried it away at around 5 a.m.
Chopard acts as an official sponsor to the festival and often lends its jewels to various movie stars in attendance at the event. In the past they have even redesigned the festival’s Palme d’Or award in 1997.
The Cannes Film Festival will run until May 26th, after starting on May 16th, and the likes of Julianne Moore, Cindy Crawford and Carla Delevigne have been seen in Chopard jewels so far at the event.
This is the fourth high stakes robbery in France since February, after a group of thieves stole $3 million of jewels from Paris, less than 24 hours after robbers took $50 million worth of jewelry from a Brussels Airport.
