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| Advertisement for the Leviev jewelry exhibition outside the Carlton International Hotel, where the theft took place. |
At least one person made off with an estimated $53 million worth of jewelry from the Leviev diamond company that was on display at a hotel in Cannes, France, according to several reports.
The brazen theft occurred Sunday around noon in the lobby of the Intercontinental Carlton hotel where an exhibit of Leviev jewelry titled, "Extraordinary Diamonds," was on display in the lobby. The diamond company is owned by billionaire Lev Leviev.
Details are sketchy but reports indicate that a lone person who may have been armed made off with an undetermined amount of jewelry from the exhibition in a briefcase, according to reports. The exhibit was schedule to conclude at the end of August.
If the value of the jewels is confirmed, it could be the second-largest heist ever in France, the BBC reports.
The French Riviera resort city has been a hotbed of jewelry robberies as of late. The famed Cannes International Film festival Held in May had two high-profile thefts: A necklace by Swiss jeweler De Grisogono reportedly worth $2.5 million was stolen at a celebrity party and a week earlier $1 million worth of Chopard jewels were stolen from the hotel room of an employee of the Swiss company.
The country's biggest robbery took place in 2008, when three men stole jewelry on display at an exhibition in Paris with an estimated value of $113 million, the BBC reports.
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