SALT LAKE CITY, UT — "Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" cast member Jennifer Shah has been sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison in connection with a telemarketing fraud case.
Shah, 49, pleaded guilty in July 2022 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and was ordered to forfeit $6.5 million after previously pleading not guilty. She must also pay restitution to victims of the nationwide telemarketing scheme that prosecutors said targeted elderly, vulnerable victims.
Federal prosecutors had requested Shah serve 10 years in prison. The defense said she should serve no more than three.
"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," Shah's defense attorney, Priya Chaudhry, said in a statement at the time. "Jen pled guilty because she wants to pay her debt to society and put this ordeal behind her and her family."
Federal prosecutors cited Shah's flamboyance in their sentencing memorandum as a reason she deserves a decade in prison.
"Despite the defendant's best efforts, she got caught. She then went on a public offensive and tried to profit off the charges by selling 'Justice for Jen' merchandise," prosecutors wrote. "She pled guilty at the eleventh hour, only after receiving the Government's trial exhibits and witness statements. In light of her conduct and her post-arrest behavior, her belated expressions of remorse ring hollow."
The defense has portrayed her antics as play for the reality TV cameras.
"Just as Jen Shah has never been a 'housewife,' little else is real about her persona and caricature as portrayed by the editors of RHOSLC," her defense team claimed. "The effigy of Jen Shah portrayed in the RHOSLC has no bearing on who she is, whatsoever, and should not enter this Court's calculus in fashioning an appropriate sentence for the real Jen Shah."
In December, a judge ordered the reality TV star to forfeit dozens of designer handbags, a Lanvin fox, mink and leather belted stole and her collection of posh jewelry as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.
The 108 items were seized in March 2021 in a search of Shah's home. The inventory included scores of counterfeit bags and jewelry stamped with fake Chanel, Gucci, Bulgari and Hermès labels.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
