Jen Shah, star of “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” was sentenced Friday to 6.5 years in prison for defrauding the elderly.
Shah tearfully pleaded with the judge for leniency before her sentence was handed down.
“My actions have hurt innocent people. I want to apologize to all of the victims and their families,” she said before promising to pay back all the money she stole from her victims.
District Judge Sidney Stein wasn’t swayed by her tears. “There’s no real way of being made whole again. They can’t really be made whole emotionally. Their lives have been turned upside down,” Judge Stein said.
Federal prosecutors accuse Shah, 49, of running a telemarketing scheme that targeted America’s most vulnerable population – the elderly.
Shah is accused of heading a telemarketing ring and training others to run the scam while she was busy filming the reality TV show in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The scammers offered their victims bogus business services beginning in 2012. They are accused of taking money from their victims and providing them with “products” and “services” that were worthless.
Shah pleaded guilty in July to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for providing “leads” to a crew of scammers who lured victims into investing in worthless or non-existent projects.
At her plea hearing, Shah acknowledged that she knew the services being offered were basically worthless.
“From 2012 to March 2021 in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere I agreed with others to commit wire fraud,” Shah said.
“I did this by knowingly providing customer names to people who were marketing business services that had little or no value,” she added.
Shah’s defense lawyers proposed a lesser sentence of just three years in prison. They argued that while Shah played a significant role in the fraud, she wasn’t a leader of the operation.
“There is neither reason nor evidence to place Ms. Shah at the ‘Godfather’ or ‘Kingpin’ level of this fraud,” her attorney said.
The judge allowed Shah to remain free on bond to get her affairs in order. She must report to federal prison by 2 p.m. on Feb 17.
