Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer raised the alleged robbery of Kim Kardashian in Paris during the Supreme Court’s first day of oral arguments in its new term.
Tuesday marked the beginning of oral arguments in a bank fraud case, Shaw v. United States, and Breyer mentioned Kardashian a few times as he asked questions about the case. Kardashian, a reality television star who became famous because of a sex tape, was reportedly robbed at gunpoint last weekend.
The case presents the question of whether a bank-fraud statute requires proof of a specific intent not only to deceive a bank, but also to cheat that bank. Lawrence Shaw has conceded his scheme involved stealing from another man’s checking account, but he has insisted that he did not intend to cheat the bank.
When Shaw’s attorney, Koren L. Bell, came before the Court to argue Shaw’s case, he was peppered by Breyer with questions.
“So if you’re insured and the — or at least the defendant believes he’s insured, it isn’t theft?” Breyer asked, according to the Court’s transcript of the argument.
“If the defendant believes that the bank is insured and therefore that another party will bear the loss?” Bell responded.
“Even Kardashian’s thief, if there is one, believes that all that jewelry is insured. Indeed over-insured. So it’s not theft?” Breyer countered.
“Well, so, it would depend on the language of the statute,” Bell replied.
Breyer wasn’t done raising the Kardashian theft. He proceeded to detail a hypothetical example in which a person posing as a local jewelry cleaner came to the door saying “dear Miss Kardashian,” and got the celebrity to hand over her jewelry.
