A 40-year-old Polish truck driver has been sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison after UK authorities discovered roughly 90 kilos of cocaine, valued at more than $9 million, concealed inside a shipment of Skims shapewear and clothing. The May 2026 sentencing at Chelmsford Crown Court followed his guilty plea and the unusual nature of the discovery, in which the drugs were hidden in compartments built into the trailer doors of a truck arriving from the Netherlands. Jakub Jan Konkol was stopped by Border Force officers at the Port of Harwich on September 5th, 2025, after the truck he was driving was flagged for further inspection. An X-ray scan revealed packages of cocaine packed into hidden compartments in the rear trailer doors.
Investigators later focused on a 16-minute stop in the truck’s GPS tracking data, which Konkol could not explain, believing that was when the drugs were loaded. Konkol initially denied knowing anything about the drugs but later pleaded guilty, telling police he was paid around $4,900 by an organized crime group to complete the job. He isscheduled to be deported after serving his sentence. The shipment itself was officially deemed legitimate.
The National Crime Agency’s operations manager, banned by classification, and the importer were not accused of any wrongdoing. Skims released a statement saying they had no knowledge of the criminal activity, no connection to the driver, and no link to the smuggling operation. Officials therefore described the case as a driver acting alone. The investigation sparked widespread public skepticism, however, given the brand ships massive global freight loads regularly and questions about whether this was the first such attempt or merely the first one caught.
The skepticism grew as observers connected the case to a series of older, unconnected episodes involving Kim Kardashian that had previously raised questions about her family’s financial dealings. Long before Skims existed, in the mid-2000s, Kim worked as a personal stylist, including for R&B singer Brandy Norwood. Court records from that era alleged that between 2006 and 2007, Kim passed credit card details belonging to Brandy’s mother, Sonja Norwood, to her siblings Khloe, Kourtney, and Robert Kardashian Jr. , who allegedly used them to buy clothes and shoes for themselves at their own retail stores.
Sonja Norwood sued the Kardashians in 2008, reporting unauthorized charges of approximately $120,000 at the time. In December 2025, however, the 75-year-old Norwood filed a court declaration in support of a separate case by Ray J against Kim and Kris Jenner, in which she claimed the actual total was closer to $850,000. Ray J also spoke publicly about the matter, saying the alleged theft ended his relationship with the family. The Kardashians called the claims meritless, saying Kim and Khloe were authorized employees who never used the cards without permission.
The 2008 case was settled quietly out of court, with no public number or admission of wrongdoing. A separate, documented episode involves fugitive Malaysian billionaire Joe Low. In 2009, Kim was paid $50,000 to appear at Low’s birthday party in Las Vegas. Later that year, she joined Low and two film producers involved in The Wolf of Wall Street in a private casino room, playing baccarat until the early morning hours.
Low won big, and as a thank you, he handed Kim casino chips worth over $350,000. She cashed them in stages, receiving $250,000 in a trash bag full of $100 bills, which she placed in her carry-on luggage for a Southwest Airlines flight back to Los Angeles, with a further $100,000 picked up on another Las Vegas trip. Low also reportedly gave her $100,000 for fireworks at Kim’s 2011 wedding to Kris Humphries, plus an additional $35,000 in cash. By 2019, Low had been accused by US prosecutors of embezzling $4.
5 billion from 1MDB, a Malaysian government investment fund, and was believed to be hiding in China. The KL High Court later heard that $2. 4 million had gone from 1MDB’s coffers into the bank accounts of Kim Kardashian and musician Pharrell Williams via Low’s shell company Good Star Limited. The FBI questioned Kim in February 2019 about her relationship with Low.
She confirmed meeting him about six times total and acknowledged receiving the chips and cash, but she was not arrested or charged. Leonardo DiCaprio was also questioned by the FBI about his connection to Low. Kim’s interview received minimal media attention at the time and was largely buried. Meanwhile, in 2009, Kris Jenner co-founded the California Community Church, a registered non-profit charity requiring members to pay $1,000 a month and donate 10% of their income.
Critics have long noted that the structure allows the family to receive tax deductions for donations to a charity controlled by their own mother, meaning the money never truly leaves the family. Financial manager Lou Taylor, who oversaw Britney Spears’ finances during her conservatorship and was accused of moving hundreds of millions of dollars out of her accounts, has also been linked by some reports to associates with ties to the Kardashian family. All of these arrangements remain allegations; no convictions have result. In October 2025, the Kardashian family filed a defamation lawsuit against Ray J over public claims he made that they were under federal investigation.
Around the same time and previously, Kanye West had made far more extreme public accusations, including comparing the family’s conduct to that of Jeffrey Epstein’s network. In one widely noted quote, West said, “The Carters and the Kardashians are basically the same, except the Kardashians are doing what Epstein did. ” The Kardashians did not sue West over those statements, drawing noted legal scrutiny, as suing him would likely require them to respond to his specific claims in court under oath. Separately, comedian Katt Williams made comments in 2024, widely interpreted as a veiled reference to Kim, suggesting that men close to her either fled or experienced public breakdowns afterward.
No direct accusations were made, and Williams offered no evidence, but the remarks fueled ongoing speculation about the family’s private dealings. Nevertheless, no charges have been filed against Kim Kardashian or any family member in connection with the Skims cocaine discovery, the Joe Low matter, or any other allegation discussed, and the family has consistently denied wrongdoing in all public statements regarding these matters. The case against Konkol, however, is closed: he pleaded guilty, was sentenced, and remains in UK custody awaiting deportation. The official record describes an isolated criminal act by a single individual exploiting a legitimate commercial shipment.
Public scrutiny of the broader circumstances, however, has not subsided.
