On Friday, a federal judge in Manhattan will punish disgraced “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” actress Jen Shah for her years-long telemarketing fraud that targeted elderly Americans.
Federal prosecutors want Judge Sidney Stein to sentence the disgraced reality TV actress to up to ten years in prison for her role in the conspiracy, claiming she helped steal her victims’ life savings for nearly a decade.
“At the direction of the defendant, victims were repeatedly defrauded until they had nothing left,” prosecutors stated in their sentencing memo.
“[Shah] and her co-conspirators persisted in their behavior until the victims’ bank accounts were drained, their credit cards were maxed out, and there was nothing left to steal,” they wrote.
In July, Shah, 49, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to conduct wire fraud for giving “leads” to a group of telemarketers who tricked victims into investing in fraudulent web projects.
Beginning in 2012, the con artists offered their victims fake business services before pocketing the money and delivering “products” and “services” of little or no value.
Shah informed Judge Stein at her plea hearing that she was aware the provided services were essentially worthless.
“From 2012 to March 2021, I conspired with others to commit wire fraud in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere,” stated Shah.
“I did this by knowingly providing customer names to individuals who were marketing low- or no-value business services,” she said.
Shah’s defense attorneys argued in their own sentencing proposal that she should be sentenced to three years in prison on the grounds that, although she played a key role in the fraud, she was not the operation’s leader.
Federal prosecutors have requested that Shah be sentenced to ten years in prison by Judge Sidney Stein.
Her attorneys claimed, “Ms. Shah’s piece of the puzzle, while significant, was insufficient to carry out this fraud without these other crucial pieces controlled and directed by experienced criminals”
They stated, “There is neither reason nor evidence to place Ms. Shah at the ‘Godfather’ or ‘Kingpin’ level of this fraud.”
»Jen Shah, the disgraced ‘Real Housewives’ star, will be sentenced on Friday in a fraud scheme«