Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah says leaving her family to go to prison would ‘literally kill her’ as her legal drama comes to a head. As she awaits the verdict, Reality Titbit takes a closer look at what’s going on.
The Bravo star, 48, could be facing up to 50 years in prison after admitting to her role in an alleged long-running telemarketing scheme.
She was originally indicted during filming of the second season of the reality show and arrested in March 2021.
Jen pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, even getting her legal team to file paperwork to dismiss the charges.
However, she changed her plea to guilty in July this year.
Jen Shah’s legal drama explained
Despite originally proclaiming her innocence, the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York later said in a press release that Shah “pled guilty today to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing through which she victimized 10 or more persons over the age of 55, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.”
She could face an additional 20 years for the money laundering charges.
After changing to a guilty plea, Jen has apologized for her actions.
Her attorney Priya Chaudhry, told People at the time: “Ms. Shah is a good woman who crossed a line.
“She accepts full responsibility for her actions and deeply apologizes to all who have been harmed. Ms. Shah is also sorry for disappointing her husband, children, family, friends, and supporters.
“Jen pled guilty because she wants to pay her debt to society and put this ordeal behind her and her family.”
Everything that’s going on has also seen Jen have to downsize her Shah Squad marketing company.
She said on RHOSLC: “I also had to downsize the Shah Squad. I’m doing my best, that’s all I can say. I’m doing my very, very best.”
Jen’s legal team tried to have the charges dropped after the release of a documentary called The Housewife & the Shah Shocker.
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In December 2021, they argued the ABC documentary would ruin her chance of having an unbiased jury pool. The request was denied.
Jen is scheduled to be sentenced by US District Judge Sidney H Stein on November 28.
How Jen’s assistant was involved
Jen’s ‘first assistant’ Stuart Smith, who has appeared on the show with her, was arrested alongside her for an alleged role in the telemarketing scheme.
The pair is accused of defrauding “hundreds” of people, many of whom were aged over 55, by selling “lead lists” for fictitious business opportunities.
Smith originally pleaded not guilty but changed his plea in November 2021.
Attorney Ronald Richards told Us Weekly: “He pleaded guilty to three counts: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice.
“He admitted to hiding ownership and money, defrauding elderly people and lying to the Federal Trade Commission in a deposition, which constituted perjury.”
Smith is currently awaiting sentencing and faces the same possible sentence length as Jen.
Jen’s fear of leaving family
As the third season of RHOSLC kicked off last night (September 28), Jen opened up about the changes she’s had to make to her life amid her ongoing legal battle.
She said: “I went from the Barbie dream house closet to a normal size closet.”
She added that she’d gone from living in a 9,000-square-foot home to one half that size.
Talking about her family, Jen, who shares two sons with her husband Sharrieff Shah, went on: “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared.
“I’m not thinking about myself, I’m thinking about my family. I can’t imagine being away from them. It would literally kill me.”
Jen dubbed Sharrieff her “voice of reason in all this” and said that “every penny” she has is going to “fighting” her case.
And Sharrieff said of the drama: “The trial in itself is a lot to deal with.”
But the couple put their worries behind them for Sharrieff’s Rat Pack-themed birthday party on the show last night.
Jen said: “This year it was important to me to do something special, I know that we’ve been through a lot.
“Because of everything that we’ve been going through, it means more to me than ever to have people in my life that really, truly love me and love our family.”
Her husband added: “The one thing that can bring me to tears almost instantly is thinking of life without my wife by my side. It’s hard to stomach.”
In another recent episode, Whitney Rose opened up about her past trauma.
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