The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah has changed her tune about her federal fraud case and decided to plead guilty on Monday, July 11. The move was unexpected, but it looks like some type of plea deal went down behind the scenes.
After she pleaded guilty to the first count, which was the intent to commit wire fraud in connection with her telemarketing business, Page Six reported that the second count, conspiracy to commit money laundering, was dropped, per the court documents they obtained. It was probably a smart move given the fact that she was originally facing 50 years in prison. The plea agreement reportedly now mandates 11 to 14 years in prison and restitution fees totaling $9.5 million.
Admitting that what she did was “wrong and illegal,” Shah spent over a year denying all of the charges, so the five decades in prison probably started to sound daunting as her trial date approached. Judge Sidney Stein asked the Bravolebrity in court, via the Inner City Press Twitter account, “Ms. Shah, what did you do?” She responded, “Wire fraud, offering services with little to no value. We used interstate telephones and emails. I knew many of the purchasers were over the age of 55. I am so sorry.” The worst part is that Shah knew she misrepresented her services which had “little-to-no” value.
Her lawyer Priya Chaudhry said in a statement to Page Six that Shah “accepts full responsibility for her actions and deeply apologizes to all who have been harmed.” Chaudhry believes that the reality star is “a good woman who crossed a line” and is ready “to pay her debt to society and put this ordeal behind her and her family.” Her arrest was part of the second season of RHOSLC and the third season is currently filming, but according to Variety, the Bravo TV cameras were not there with her in the courtroom. The only thing Bravo needs to do at this point is change up her tagline because, “The only thing I’m guilty of is being Shah-mazing” isn’t going to work very well now.
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