A US reality TV star is beginning a 6.5 year prison sentence for running a nationwide telemarketing scam that defrauded elderly people out of tens of millions of dollars.
Jen Shah, who projected a glamorous lifestyle on The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, pleaded guilty last July to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
The telemarketing scheme targeted older and computer illiterate people to sell them “essentially non-existent” services, according to the US Justice Department.
Shah said in court in New York City she “knew it was wrong, many people were harmed and I’m so sorry”, NBC reported.
She admitted that she “agreed with others to commit with wire fraud” and “knew it misled” victims, more than 10 of whom were over the age of 55.
Shah will now serve a 78-month term in a Texas prison after being sentenced last month.
As part of her plea deal, she agreed to forfeit $6.5m (£5.4m) and will also pay up to $9.5m (£7.9m) in restitution.
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Shah and her “first assistant” Stuart Smith were accused in March 2021 of committing wire fraud and money laundering in a scheme in which they “generated and sold ‘lead lists’ of innocent individuals for other members of their scheme to repeatedly scam,” according to the US Attorney’s Office.
In a statement, Manhattan US Attorney Audrey Strauss said the “so-called business opportunities pushed on the victims by Shah, Smith, and their co-conspirators were just fraudulent schemes, motivated by greed, to steal victims’ money”.
In a statement to People magazine, Shah’s lawyer Priya Chaudhry said she was “committed to serving her sentence with courage and purpose, fuelled by her desire to make amends for the hurt she has caused”.
“Jen Shah’s resolve to make her victims whole and to turn her life around is unyielding,” the statement read.
