Major reward being offered in recent Cannes jewel heist

August 7th, 2013 by Noam Flint

In an attempt to gain answers, an affiliate of Lloyd’s of London is offering an impressive $1.3 million as a reward for any information leading to the robber who walked away with more than $100 million in diamonds after a recent heist in Cannes. According to The Associated Press, one assailant broke into the garden grounds of the Carlton Intercontinental Hotel July 28, and walked out with millions in pricey jewels in under a minute.

SEE ALSO: Approximately $136 million in diamonds stolen from Cannes hotel

Since the heist, little information has come out to help the police catch the criminal or locate the gems, which belong to Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev. The white and color diamonds were set to be on display along with other gemstones for a jewelry show held at the hotel.

Big bucks at stake

To many, a $1 million-plus reward might seem like a lot, but insurers at Lloyd’s are hopeful the large sum of money will encourage someone to come forward to help solve this case and find the rings, bracelets and more. To prevent false leads and information from coming out to simply get the reward, any information provided will be investigated thoroughly before the good Samaritan gets the money.

“We have to get the jewelry back first, evaluate the value of the recovered jewelry and then, once the police is satisfied we’re not about to recompense the robbers, we can arrange the payment,” John Shaw, a managing director at SW Associates (a Paris-based loss adjusting company working for Lloyd’s), told Reuters.

The reward amount and photos of some of the stolen jewels were made public across multiple publications, including Le Parisien, Nice-Martin and the International Herald Tribune, Aug. 7 to encourage people to come forward. A total of 72 pieces were taken during the heist, all of which belonged to Leviev, the news source reports.

Below you can see some of the pieces as were displayed at the Telegraph including two very rare rings mounted with large blue diamonds

Large rewards have worked in the past

While $1.3 million is a hefty price to pay, getting back the stolen jewels is worth it. In fact, in 2008, SW Associates offered a similar pay out, $1 million, to anyone who came forward with information regarding a $105 million jewelry heist from the elite Harry Winston shop in Paris.

Thanks to the help of one person, more than half of the stolen diamonds and other jewels were found, and the individual made out with the hefty reward. SW and Lloyd’s of London are hoping for a similar result in the Cannes case.