A Real Star Jen Shah quickly
took over the "Real Housewives of Salt Lake City."
She stole the show with her ambiguous profession and her outgoing personality. It's hard to imagine
that she could outshine a woman who married her own grandfather (no relation), and yet she did.
The reality show doesn't tell us exactly what Jen did for a job,
and yet, we do see her on a private jet and in an interview
claiming she had spent over 82,000 dollars on a single party. So who actually is this woman?
Jen was the ideal housewives candidate due to her inspirational life, home,
car, fashion, and jewelry. But so many questions surrounded this reality star.
Enter Stuart Smith, Jen's favorite of many assistants.
People weren't sure what Stuart actually did for her other than
"literally anything." It seems that Stuart was just a great assistant, but that isn't the only
thing he was to Jen. He was also labeled an "accomplice" in her pending legal trouble.
But what about the other man in Jen's life? Her husband, Sharrieff Shah? While
Sharrieff makes into the six figures as a football coach at the University of Utah,
there's no way that Jen could have maintained her lifestyle with Sharrief's salary alone,
even if he's among the highest-paid NCAA coaches in the country. Where did all her money come from?
Is it Reality? On the day of her arrest,
Jen got a phone call just before leaving on a party bus with her fellow cast members.
She claimed in front of the camera, and her friends, that her husband was experiencing
internal bleeding and that she needed to leave, but that she could maybe meet
up with them later. Even her fellow cast members thought this was suspicious because
if her husband truly was experiencing internal bleeding, why would she meet up with them later?
Helicopters and police vans swarmed the housewives' party bus looking for Jen,
but she'd already left the scene. Authorities caught up with and arrested her shortly after.
Fellow cast members weren't afraid when the police showed up,
believing Jen was pranking them somehow. She did have a flair for the dramatic.
Fellow cast members were at a loss. Did they tell Jen, or did they not? Ultimately,
they decided not to inform Jen that the federal government was after her.
It's widely speculated that someone called her, tipping her off about the police. Her
husband wasn't on the other line, so who was? Furthermore, the entire scene was a little too
"coincidental," especially in the context of a show like Housewives. How much did the producers
and crew know? How much of what played out on TV was orchestrated, and how much was reality?
"Business" Opportunities As suspicion grew, more and
more people questioned what Shah did for the great wealth she exhibited on Real Housewives.
Jen claimed she ran multiple businesses, and that was why she needed multiple assistants. But when
pressed for details, Jen's lips were sealed. She only let out vague and non-informative answers.
She's compared herself to "The Wizard of Oz," saying she's the one "behind the curtain," and
explains that she's responsible for the personalized ads you see online.
After you look up "best dog food," she's the one sending target ads
about dog food to your Facebook feed, at least so she claims.
Maybe Jen's fallback was her husband's career. He made money,
right? Sharrieff recently made the USA Today list of highest-paid coaches in 2020.
He also appeared on ESPN's list of "10 coaches who adapt and thrive". Could this lend credibility to
the fact that Sharrieff was the breadwinner if Jen hadn't been so lavish? Maybe she shouldn't
have made a big "reality-show style deal" about hiding things from her devoted husband?
Real Charges Jen was charged
with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud connected to telemarketing and one count
of conspiracy to commit money laundering. So what does that mean? Jen and Stuart were charged with
building a telemarketing scheme that targeted people that were over the age of 55, an age
that’s known to be susceptible to scams and other fraudulent activities. So how did they do it?
They were reported as having encouraged their victims
to invest in suspicious online projects and sold bogus services to their so-called clients.
In fact, their clients were not what the rest of us would consider clients at all.
Instead, they were a collective of elderly individuals who were
encouraged to invest in online products and sold illegitimate business services since 2012.
Over the phone, Shah's company told customers they'd learn the ins and outs of tax preparation,
how to conduct coaching sessions and everything about website design. This seems like a dream,
except for one important thing. Most of their clients didn't even own a computer.
These "dreamers" or "business people" were referred to as "leads" by Shah and Smith.
Not only were their "leads" exploited, but they were then shared with additional scam artists who
would target them all over again, while Shah and Smith got a nice cut for the referral.
Nobody ever intended for the victims to see a return on their investment, and none of them did.
Of course, anybody charged with a non-violent crime has the right to
bail and other allowances. They're also innocent until proven guilty.
The same rules apply to a Real Housewife. Shah secured a bail bond and was a free woman until
her trial. The condition of her bond included the signing of a $1 million bond and agreeing
to zero use of drugs or excessive alcohol. Jen was also refused the ability to open a
bank account and was required to continue mental health treatment.
During the original hearing in April, Jen's trial date was set for October 18,
2021. This date was subject to change based on COVID-19 protocols.
In August of 2021, the trial was pushed until March of 2022.
Break in the Case However, just because the case hasn't gone before
the court, doesn't mean that there isn't any movement. Jen's legal team worked hard to get her
case dismissed. They claimed no one could ever be impartial because Jen was arrested on reality tv.
There's also a Hulu documentary about Jen's case that premiered in mid-November 2021.
Basically, everyone already feels like they know what happened,
and an impartial jury might be hard to come by. Plus, the Homeland Security agents in the
Hulu film shared details about the case that weren't supposed to be released to the public.
Overall, Jen and her lawyers felt that she wouldn't stand a chance if they went to trial.
Meanwhile, while Jen's legal team fought to get her case dismissed,
Stuart changed his plea. He pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering,
and obstruction of justice on November 19, 2021. He admitted that he hid the money,
defrauded the elderly, and lied to the Federal Trade Commission in one of his depositions.
Stuart was released on bail, and scheduled to be sentenced in March 2022.
He could be looking at decades in prison, as the maximum sentence he can receive is 70 years.
However, if he testifies against Jen, he could be looking at a slap on the wrist.
This plea definitely impacted Jen's case. Since Stuart cooperated with authorities, he likely
shared some information that further implicated Jen or shed light on any involvement she had
in the fraudulent activities. At this time, no one knows just how much this can impact Jen's case,
but more details are likely to be uncovered as the trail gets closer.
Through all this, Jen continues to cry innocence.
Jen has gone on record saying, "I think what people don't understand is, here in America,
you're innocent until proven guilty. I'm innocent." Jen doesn't stop there, though.
Despite her antics on reality television, Jen now calls on fans to separate what's
real and just "reality tv drama." This case is very real to Jen and her family,
and isn’t just being used as a tactic for ratings. However, this doesn't mean that
this drama won't be a focal point of the new season of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.
Red Flags Jen is no stranger to skirting the
law. Meredith Marks, a fellow co-star, claimed that Jen showed up at her store after hours,
demanding the manager reopen for her. Then, a friend of Jen's made off with a snakeskin clutch,
and security cameras caught the entire incident. The manager called Meredith,
Meradith called Jen, and the whole ordeal seemed too odd to ignore.
Attempting to give her the benefit of the doubt,
Meredith asked Jen if her friend had just "borrowed" the clutch.
While Jen did eventually return the clutch, the question soon became:
why did someone so well off feel the need to steal it in the first place?
Was it all for adding drama to the reality show? Or was it a deep-seated comfort with crime?
Divorcing Grounds Another suspicion surrounding
the case came from Jen and her husband's marital issues. About six months before Jen's arrest,
Sharrieff was demanding a divorce. This aired on the premiere episode of the reality show as Jen
was filmed "confiding" in Lisa Barlow about how this divorce made her feel like her life was over.
While details were not explicitly specified, Jen did say that his final breaking point was the
"stuff" she kept doing. Does this mean her very public and dramatic antics, or did Sharrieff
know about her and Stuart's scandal and want to distance himself before it was too late?
All About the Money No matter what happens with Jen's case,
it will certainly be a highlight of the new season of Real Housewives, with each star getting in on
the action. Viewers will be left to decide how much of what they're seeing is real, how much is
exaggerated, and whether or not Jen is guilty. You better believe fans of the show will tune in to
find out what happens next. What legal role does the show play in all of this? After all, there are
plenty of real-world victims of Jen’s crimes. Some of these people may have even watched their worst
enemy parade around Salt Lake City on their dime. The worst part is, they never would have known.
Click to watch one of these next videos! And let us know in the comment section
whether you think her husband, Coach Shah, knew about her crime the entire time!