A jewellery store owner who staged a fake multimillion-dollar heist at one of his stores to pocket the insurance money has been cleared of robbery and kidnapping.
Michel Germani claimed his luxury store - Germani Jewellers at Sydney's Hilton Hotel - was robbed by two men who bound him and a sales assistant with cable ties inside the shop in January 2023.
But the robbery was no more than a ruse for the 67-year-old to recoup funds before his store was shut down due to an outstanding $184,000 rental debt.
Germani and accomplice Mounir Helou, 59, previously admitted the robbery was faked.
But the pair denied one count of aggravated robbery with corporal violence and one count of detaining without consent in relation to store employee Lana Al-Khoury.
Germani claimed Ms Al-Khoury knew of the plan and consented to being bound with cable ties.
Police bodyworn footage played to jurors showed the sales assistant breathless and disorientated as she talked to officers attending the scene.
She had acted swiftly after the two "robbers" had left, hopping to the store's front door while cable tied to a chair and calling out for help from those outside, prosecutor Cate Dodds previously told a NSW District Court jury.
Ms Dodds said these actions, and the fact she did not wait calmly inside the store, disproved claims by Germani's lawyer that the shop assistant also knew the robbery was fake.
"On one or two occasions she was so scared she wet herself," prosecutors said.
In relation to the count of aggravated robbery with corporal violence against Ms Al-Khoury, a NSW District Court jury found Germani and Helou not guilty on Friday.
Germani was also found not guilty of kidnapping.
The men will appear at court for a sentencing hearing on May 21.
The insurance claim seeking to recoup $2,821,348 for 164 items of jewellery "stolen" was denied, the court was told previously.
