Jen Shah, one of the stars of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, pleaded guilty on Monday to defrauding hundreds of victims in a telemarketing scheme.
NBC News reports Shah entered her guilty plea in a Manhattan federal court for one charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. As a result, a second charge for conspiracy to commit money laundering was dropped.
“I knew this was wrong, I know many people were harmed, and I am so sorry,” Shah told the court.
The charges are in connection to a nationwide scam in which Shah defrauded hundreds of people by “selling those victims so-called ‘business services’ in connection with the victims’ purported online business.”
If convicted, Shah could face a prison sentence of anywhere from 135 to 168 months, or 11 to 14 years.
“Jennifer Shah was a key participant in a nationwide scheme that targeted elderly, vulnerable victims,” Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, told the court. “These victims were sold false promises of financial security but instead Shah and her co-conspirators defrauded them out of their savings and left them with nothing to show for it. This Office is committed to rooting out these schemes whatever form they take.”
The news arrives just over a year after Shah pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
“Jennifer Shah, who portrays herself as a wealthy and successful businessperson on ‘reality’ television, and Stuart Smith, who is portrayed as Shah’s ‘first assistant,’ allegedly generated and sold ‘lead lists’ of innocent individuals for other members of their scheme to repeatedly scam,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a press release back in March 2021. “In actual reality and as alleged, the so-called business opportunities pushed on the victims by Shah, Smith, and their co-conspirators were just fraudulent schemes, motivated by greed, to steal victims’ money. Now, these defendants face time in prison for their alleged crimes.”
