:: clink clink ::
Guilty!
Real Housewives of Salt Lake City‘s Jen Shah faces prison time after pleading guilty for fraud and money laundering.
This is a change of tune as the controversial RHOSLC star pleaded not guilty back in April of 2021 of all alleged crimes.
The sentencing:
According to a Twitter thread from @sdny, Jen “GUILTY PLEA to 168 MONTHS: In SDNY, Jen Shah of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Pleads Guilty for 168 Month Deal Week Before Trial, Inner City Press.”
Ok – Jen Shah of #RHOSLC is here in Courtroom 23A, it’s for “change of plea” (to guilty). Inner City Press has been covering the case, even before Shah was added to it, and will live tweet, thread below https://t.co/CtPE0hPiZO
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) July 11, 2022
The transcript:
**The following was taken directly from @SDNYLIVE [Matthew Russell Lee] on Twitter. Each page break indicates a new tweet.**
All rise!
Judge Sidney Stein: Ms. Shah, do you wish to plead guilty to Count 1 of the indictment?
Shah: Yes, your Honor.
Judge Stein: I will need to ask you certain questions…
Judge Stein: If there were a trial, you could see and hear all the witnesses against you and your attorney could cross examine them. Do you understand those rights?
Shah: Yes, your Honor.
Judge Stein: You will be giving up all of these rights and there will be no trial – do you understand?
Shah: Yes your Honor.
Judge Stein: Did you read the indictment?
Shah: Yes I did.
Judge Stein: You are charged in Count 1 with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing, do you understand?
Shah: Yes your Honor.
Judge: AUSA Fletcher, set forth the elements.
AUSA: An agreement to violate the law, and entered it knowingly.
Judge Stein: Do you understand that the maximum penalty is 30 years in prison?
Shah: Yes your Honor. [Presumably there is a plea agreement that will be made public in this proceeding, watch this feed]
Note: To get guilty plea to Count 1, US dropping Count 2, Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering, “from 2012 to Nov 2019.”
Judge Stein: You understand you will lose valuable civil rights, including the right to vote and bear arms?
Shah: I do.
Judge Stein: After I receive your pre-sentencing report I will determine guidelines, which in any event do not bind me. Do you understand that the system of parole has been abolished, except for “good time credit” at the facility where you are located?
Shah: Yes.
Judge Stein: I have before me a document sent to you and your lawyers. Did you read it before you signed it?
Shah: Yes.
Judge Stein: Are there any side deals I should know about?
Shah: No, your Honor.
Judge Stein: In this agreement you’ve agreed not to appeal if I sentence you to 168 months in prison or fewer?
Shah: Yes your Honor.
Judge Stein: And you’ve agreed to forfeit $6 million, and restitution of $9 million?
Shah: Yes, your Honor.
Judge Stein: Ms. Shah, what did you do?
Shah: 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.
Judge Stein: What is the reason they bought?
Shah: Misrepresentations, regarding the value of the product or service, of which it had little to none.
Judge Stein: Did you know it was wrong and illegal?
Shah: Yes your Honor.
Judge Stein: AUSA Fletcher, what proof does the government have?
AUSA: We were made aware of FTC investigations against floors the defendant worked with. Between 2017 and 2021 beyond being a lead broker, she had a Manhattan based sales floor, she oversaw it.
AUSA: She did not put her name on bank accounts associated with the business. She only got paid in cash through a company credit card and a NYC apartment she lived in. She used encrypted applications, and moved operations off shore to Kosovo and incorp in Wyoming
Judge Stein: What were these “biz opps”?
AUSA Fletcher: So-called coaching services.
Judge Stein: Ms. Shah, how do you now plead?
Shah: Guilty.
Judge Stein: Are you pleading because you are guilty?
Shah: Yes.
Judge Stein: I am signing the consent order of forfeiture in the sum of $6,500,000.
Ms. Shah, I find your plea is knowing… I accept your guilty plea & adjudge you guilty. Sentencing will be October 12.
Shah’s lawyer: We have a trial on October 11. Another date?
AUSA: How about the week before Thanksgiving?
Shah’s lawyer: How about the week after Thanksgiving?
Judge Stein: I’ll set it for Oct 12. Shah’s lawyer: This Oct 11 trial in the state court [not Shah] we’ve been waiting five years.
Judge Stein: OK, submission Nov 7
Judge Stein: Continue to abide by your conditions of release. I’ll see you at your sentencing. We are adjourned.
END OF TWITTER THREAD.
Jen Shah is married to Sharrieff Shah, football coach at the University of Utah. The couple shares two sons, Sharrieff Shah Jr. and Omar.
Stay tuned for more of this Shah-tastrophe as details new emerge.
