Paris court sentences mastermind of 2023 Donnarumma home invasion to nine years in prison

Verdicts and prison sentences

The 16th criminal court of Paris handed down its verdict in the early hours of Saturday, concluding the trial over the violent July 2023 home invasion targeting Italian football goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. The court sentenced 21-year-old Ilyas Kherbouch, known by the alias "Ganito", to nine years in prison and imposed an 80,000 euro fine. Prosecutors had requested a ten-year prison term for Kherbouch, identifying him as the primary mastermind who directed the raid from inside his prison cell. Meanwhile, 22-year-old Khyan M., whom prosecutors accused of acting as a second orchestrator and sought nine years against, was acquitted of all charges. The court also sentenced Moktar D., who acted as a lookout during the raid, to five years in prison, with two years suspended under conditional probation.

Following the verdict around 1:00 AM, defense attorney Céline Dadouat spoke on the acquittal of Khyan M.

“The court had the time to examine the facts, the evidence, and the areas of uncertainty.”

The Avenue Montaigne raid

The armed invasion occurred during the night of 21 July 2023 at the couple's residence on Avenue Montaigne in western Paris. A commando of seven men, several of whom remain unidentified, broke into the apartment while the victims were asleep. Donnarumma, who played for Paris Saint-Germain at the time, was restrained and struck repeatedly in the face with reinforced fists until he bled, as the intruders demanded money and luxury watches. His partner, Alessia Elefante, was beaten and choked with a mobile phone charger cable despite telling the attackers that she was pregnant. The intruders searched the apartment and fled with luxury watches, jewelry, designer handbags, cash, and keys to a Mercedes and a Lamborghini. Donnarumma estimated the total value of the stolen property at just under one million euros. Before fleeing the scene, the robbers also beat the building doorman after he attempted to photograph them.

Physical trauma and aftermath

Prosecutors detailed the severe aftermath of the invasion, pointing to two secondary casualties connected to the crime. Elefante suffered a miscarriage shortly after the assault, a loss attributed to the intense physical trauma and shock of being bound and choked during the break-in. The couple later had their first child, a son named Leo, on 13 September 2024, and married in July 2026. A second death occurred on 10 May 2024, when an accomplice present during the raid committed suicide inside his prison cell after receiving threats over suspicions that he had served as an informant. Neither Donnarumma nor Elefante attended the court hearings in Paris.

Serial celebrity burglaries in Paris

The court examined the raid as part of a pattern of coordinated criminal operations targeting wealthy residents in Paris. Prosecutors noted seven residential robberies committed against high-profile figures in western Paris between 2022 and 2025, linking Kherbouch to at least two of those cases. Kherbouch was previously known to French authorities following a 13-day escape from Villepinte prison on the outskirts of Paris in March before his rearrest. Courtroom proceedings experienced sharp disruption when Kherbouch yelled insults and threats at judges and guards after security personnel ordered his brother to stop communicating from the gallery and escorted him out of the room.