Jen Shah, one of the biggest stars on the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, has officially been sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison following her involvement in a telemarketing fraud scheme that specifically targeted the elderly. Shah appeared in court today, January 6th, to plead guilty to her role in the whole scheme, which some say was entirely orchestrated by the star herself.
Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, the tenth installment in the Real Housewives franchise which also includes shows like Real Housewives of Atlanta and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, premiered on Bravo in November 2020. The reality TV drama features Jen Shah as one of the seven housewives, appearing alongside Lisa Barlow, Mary Cosby, Heather Gay, Meredith Marks, and Whitney Rose, later joined by Jennie Nguyen for the second season of RHOSLC. The show’s third season recently premiered in September 2022, but with Jen Shah now in prison, the cast will either have to continue without her or have the series come to an end. Shah was apparently able to film some episodes of RHOSLC between her arrest and sentencing, but did not take part in the recent season 3 reunion and will obviously be unable to take part in the show from prison.
Jen Shah Arrested for Elderly Fraud Scheme
Jen Shah, 49 was initially arrested for multiple counts wire fraud in March 2021, and according to TMZ, initially pled “not guilty” to the charge, with her lawyer Priya Chaudhry calling the star “totally innocent” in the whole telemarketing scheme, which was reportedly targeting the elderly – specifically people over the age of 55 – and scamming them out of a great deal of money by offering the victims a tutoring course for a salaried sales position, according to a report by PEOPLE Magazine.
In the same report, an unnamed victim of the scheme recalled how she was charged thousands of dollars for the course, even as she was unable to keep up with the tutoring and discovered that a business website had been set up for her without her knowledge. Another victim, a 75-year-old retiree, recounted how he had been contacted by multiple companies offering the same tutoring course, only to find out that the companies were connected and that he had “wasted about $40,000 trying to do good for my family.” Two other victims were reportedly driven to homelessness, while another family was scammed out of $100,000.
The motives behind the scheme are unknown, but Jen Shah has been widely named as the ringleader of the whole operation, with the federal authorities responsible for Shah’s arrest pushing a ten-year sentence and calling her the “most culpable person” charged in the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Sobelman even labeled the RHOSLC star’s crimes as “brazen fraud” and said “Every cooperator told us, ‘Jen Shah is the boss.’ They all knew who she was.”
RHOSLC Star Pleads Guilty, Named “Leader” of Fraud Conspiracy
In July 2022, Shah switched up her tune, choosing to plead guilty to one count of wire fraud in connection with telemarketing, and in return, the courts agreed to drop one count of wire fraud from her sentence. Shah appeared in the courtroom today to stand trial against that one charge, with her husband Sharrieff Shah and their two sons, Sharrieff Jr. and Omar, present in the courtroom as well. Judge Sidney Stein, who had once regarded Shah as “the leader of this conspiracy”, sentenced Jen Shah to 6.5 years in prison, despite Shah’s initial plea for a lighter, three-year sentence.
Judge Stein: Jen Shah’s role on the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, which I guess is why the courtroom is so full today, is just that, a role. People should not confuse the character she plays on an entertainment show to the person before me. Alright.
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) January 6, 2023
After the sentencing was made final and Jen Shah’s fate was sealed, her attorney Priya Chaudhry released a statement to PEOPLE Magazine, stating the following:
Chaudry has also added that Shah had reportedly spent months reading the names of those she had hurt, and had “prayed for their forgiveness”. When asked about her client’s motives, Chaudry told PEOPLE that, “Jen hoped that the TV spotlight would hide her pain. She spent years trying to hide her feeling, to fake it until she made it. She tried not to see the people who lost money.”
Despite Jen Shah’s apparent guilt over the entire scheme, with the RHOSLC star even being hospitalized after a suicide attempt on December 15th, 2022, her sentencing still stands, with Shah being sentenced to prison somewhere in the “Texas region”, with further details not available at this time. Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is currently available to stream on Hulu, Peacock, and Tubo TV. The show’s producers have not yet spoken on how Jen Shah’s arrest will affect the series moving forward, and if this arrest will see the end of the latest installment in the Real Housewives franchise.
