Doing time. Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah was sentenced to 78 months, which is 6.5 years, behind bars after she pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges in relation to a nationwide telemarketing scheme.
The reality star is in custody at the FPC Bryan in Bryan, Texas, Life & Style confirmed on Friday, February 17.
“Jen Shah’s resolve to make her victims whole and to turn her life around is unyielding. She is committed to serving her sentence with courage and purpose, fueled by her desire to make amends for the hurt she has caused and to help others in her new community,” the reality star’s attorney Priya Chaudhry told Life & Style in a statement before Shah officially surrendered. “No obstacle will deter Jen from making the most of her time in prison and she’s determined to make restitution to those whose lives she has impacted.”
The statement continued, “Her path ahead will be filled with challenges, but with the unwavering love and support of her family and friends, Jen is prepared to face these challenges head-on and emerge from this experience a better person who makes a positive impact on others.”
Keep scrolling below to find out when she has to report to prison, which facility she’ll serve her sentence in and more details.
When Will Jen Shah Report to Prison?
The Salt Lake City, Utah, native reported to prison on February 17, 2023. Of her sentencing, Shah released a statement through her rep on the day her sentence started, provided to Life & Style.
“I am surrendering to serve a sentence in federal prison today. It is the price I must pay for the bad decisions I made. People got hurt because of my decisions. While incarcerated, I will work to make amends and reconcile with the victims of my crime,” Shah stated. “In time, I pray that people will judge me for the way I responded to this sentence, rather than only for the decisions that led me to prison.”
Shah was sentenced to serve time for 6.5 years on January 6, 2023, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing and conspiracy to commit money-laundering in July 2022.
One month prior to the beginning of her sentence, a source exclusively told Life & Style that Jen’s husband, Sharrieff Shah, was “constantly by her side” throughout the ordeal because she was a “complete mess” after her imprisonment was announced.
“Jen’s been a complete wreck since the sentencing,” the insider said at the time. “She doesn’t want to go to prison, and she still hasn’t wrapped her head around it. She can’t stop sobbing.”
What Prison Will Jen Shah Go To?
Shah will be serving her time at the Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Bryan, Texas, Life & Style can confirm. Her lawyers requested in a sentencing memorandum in December 2022 that she serve her time in that specific facility, according to People. The jail is notable for housing several celebrity inmates, including Theranos founder, Elizabeth Holmes, whose jail sentence begins on April 27, 2023, the outlet reported.
The prison currently houses more than 500 female inmates and is labeled as a “minimum security federal prison camp,” per the jail’s official website.
How Does Jen Shah Feel About Her Prison Sentence?
Ahead of her prison sentence, Shah sat down with Justin Paperny, the director of White Collar Advice, to discuss her impending time behind bars. Conducting the interview exclusively on her website, Shah admitted to Justin that she was “scared” about her prison sentence.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous,” Shah confessed. “What I fear the most is that transition of not being able to hug and kiss my boys and my husband every day and my mom. At the same time, I also feel hopeful and am motivated to do a good job and make the most of my time away.”
Revealing that there is a certain element of reprieve coming with her prison stay, however, the Real Housewives star attested that she’s looking forward to putting this chapter behind her.
“There is a sense of relief because throughout this entire journey there was so much ambiguity going through it and there was so much unknown,” Shah said. “And now for the first time, I’m in a position where I know what is happening tomorrow. … There’s a sense of relief that I’m going to be able to put the past behind me, and finally start truly healing and forging a new path.”
Will Jen Shah Complete a Mental Health Treatment Program After Prison?
Shah will need to enter a mental health treatment after prison, Life & Style can confirm.
Following her release from prison, Shah will be under supervised release for five years and is expected to complete the program during this time. Her probation officer must approve of the mental health program, while Shah will undergo drug testing 15 days after her release and at least two other drug tests, which will be determined by the court.
According to documents obtained by TMZ, the Bravo personality must continue to take her prescribed medication when she gets out of prison unless her doctor tells her she can stop.
What Did Jen Shah Do?
In March 2021, Shah and her assistant, Stuart Smith, were arrested in Salt Lake City, and were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing and conspiracy to commit money-laundering.
At the time, federal authorities raided Shah’s home and confiscated multiple counterfeit designer purses and various jewelry accessories, In Touch can confirm.
Despite initially pleading not guilty to the charges, the Bravo personality decided to plead guilty in July 2022. She admitted to Judge Sidney Stein that she “agreed” to “commit wire fraud” from 2012 to March 2021.
Shah’s arrest played out during season 2 of RHOSLC. During the season 3 premiere episode in September 2022, the reality star admitted to being fearful.
“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared,” Shah said. “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.”
Shah was arrested for her involvement in a nationwide telemarketing scheme that defrauded hundreds of people across the United States by selling them “business services” that they claimed would benefit the victims’ specific online gigs, In Touch confirmed in March 2021. Many of the victims were over the age of 55, and court documents noted that some of Shah and Smith’s targets were elderly people who did not own a computer.
Upon pleading guilty, Shah agreed to forfeit $6.5 million of the proceeds from the conspiracy and $9.5 million in restitution.
The severity of Shah’s crime played a significant role in how much time she was sentenced to serve. Although she requested a three-year reduced sentencing, claiming that her “terrible business decisions” were due to “personal painful experiences,” the United States government recommended that she be sentenced to 10 years behind bars, according to court documents obtained by In Touch on December 23, 2022.
“Many of those people suffered significant financial hardship and damage,” the documents read. “At the defendant’s direction, victims were defrauded over and over again until they had nothing left. She and her co-conspirators persisted in their conduct until the victims’ bank accounts were empty, their credit cards were at their limits, and there was nothing more to take.”
The government added that the Bravolebrity “took a series of increasingly extravagant steps to conceal her criminal conduct from the authorities” and “engaged in a years-long, comprehensive effort to hide her continued role in the scheme.”
In the court papers, the government also noted that the Salt Lake City native was “an integral leader” in the nationwide telemarketing fraud scheme, which “victimized thousands of innocent people” as a result, including those who are “elderly or vulnerable.”
Prosecutors also argued for Shah to receive a 10-year sentence.
“To us, these were not numbers, these are older vulnerable people whose lives were turned upside down by the defendant’s telemarketing scam, and they still suffer,” prosecutor Robert Sobelman told the courtroom on January 6, 2023.
What Did Jen Shah’s RHOSLC Costars Say About Sentence?
Jen’s castmate Heather Gay exclusively opened up to Life & Style on February 6 about Jen’s past actions, noting, “When something is too good to be true, I’ve learned that it most likely is.”
“I was pulled into this world and fell under her spell just like I think a lot of America did,” Heather said. “Those were kind of the glory days of Salt Lake City Housewives. She and I went to New York, you’re gonna get to see her host parties for her business and do all of these things that we eventually learned was all a lie and came at the cost of victims that will need to have restitution and that there was collateral damage.”
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