Jen Shah sentencing.Photo: NBC News
On Friday, reality star Jen Shah wassentenced to 78 months (6.5 years) in prisonfor helping orchestrate a years-long telemarketing fraud that targeted people over 55 years old. Though the judge has not yet announced where Shah will do her time, her lawyers requested Shah serve at FPC Bryan, the same facility where disgracedTheranos founder Elizabeth Holmeswill report for her 11-year sentence in April.
In a sentencing memorandum filed in mid-December, Shah’s lawyers at Chaudhry Law PLLC wrote, “Jennifer Shah is an exceptional mother and a good woman who has already been punished extensively as a result of the sins of her past,” as they requested a sentence of 36 months' prison time for theRHOSLCstar.
The lawyers also requested the judge “recommend that Ms. Shah be incarcerated at the FPC Bryan facility in Bryan, Texas.”
It’s unclear why Shah asked to serve at that specific prison.
FPC Bryan is a 37-acre minimum-security women’s prison camp in Bryan, Texas, currently housing 544 total inmates,according to its website. It reportedly offers “dormitory-style 2 person bunk beds as well as 4 and 8 person cubicles,” perthe Pink Lady Prison Consultantswebsite.
Elizabeth Holmes is due to begin her sentence at FPC Bryan on April 27, 2023. Other notable inmates have included Hidalgo County, Texas, Commissioner Sylvia Handy; Jenna Ryan, who participated in the January 6 Capitol attack; and Lea Fastow, a former assistant treasurer at Enron.
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Shah’s legal team also wrote in their December sentencing memo that while Shah acknowledges her role in the extensive scheme, she deserved lighter sentencing than others involved because “most of her co-defendants are essentially career conmen: people who have spent their lives hopping from scheme to scheme; professional fraudsters without an honest dollar to their names.”
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake Citystar was sentenced in a New York courtroom on Friday after shepleaded guiltyto her role in the scam, which targeted older Americans.
Shah’s husbandSharrieffand their sons, Sharrieff Jr. and Omar, were also in the courtroom as the decision came down.
Sheremains free until Feb. 17, when she must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons and start her sentence in the “Texas region.”
Earlier on Friday morning, Judge Sidney Stein spoke before a crowded courtroom. According to Inner City Press’s Matthew Russell Lee,Judge Stein said, “Jen Shah’s role onThe Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, which I guess is why the courtroom is so full today, is just that, a role. People should not confuse the character she plays on an entertainment show to the person before me.”
Shah, 49, and her assistant,Stuart Smith, were arrested in March 2021 for leading up a telemarking scheme to defraud people over the age of 55.Details later emergedabout how the scam claimed to offer tutoring courses to help prep the victims for salaried sales positions.
ThoughSmith entered a guilty pleain November 2021, Shah continued to proclaim her innocence — until she entered into a plea deal in July 2022 and admitted in court to her role in the scheme.
source: people.com
