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Jen Shah Pleads Not Guilty To Fraud Charges, Bond Set At $1 Million!


On Friday, April 2, Jen Shah pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to Us Weekly.

Along with her local Utah lawyer, Clayton Simms, the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star hired Henry Asbill, a known white collar crimes defense attorney who works out of Washington, D.C. Shah called into the court hearing via Zoom two days after her initial hearing was postponed because too many people dialed into Wednesday’s virtual arraignment.

Federal prosecutors asked to impose a million-dollar recognizance bond for Shah, which will be secured by $250,000 in cash or property and requires a signature from two “responsible persons.” According to Asbill, however, Shah is “renting a home right now” and doesn’t have any property in her name, reports Us Weekly.

Per federal prosecutor Kiersten Ann Fletcher, “The investigation has revealed that over the past several years, beginning in at least 2017, Smith and Shah have incorporated multiple shell companies to receive the proceeds of the telemarketing scheme. The government can proper that at least one of those companies is a company called Mastery Pro Group … and that is a company that the government’s investigations have revealed is co-owned by Smith and Shah, that entity alone or bank accounts, in the name of that entity alone have received no less than $5 million in crime proceeds over just the last few years of the scheme.”

John Franchi, a reporter at KSTU FOX13 Utah, broke down what went down at Shah’s latest hearing via Twitter. Check out his tweets below!


Franchi reveals that the Shah and her assistant Stuart Smith plead "not guilty."




The reporter then reveals that Shah's lawyer discusses Shah's bond and her current finances.


John revealed that the judge is giving Shah 2 weeks to come up with the $250,000 bond.


Franchi added that a trial date for Shah is set for October 18, 2021, but it could change due to COVID.


Jen Shah and her assistant, Stuart Smith, were arrested for their alleged roles in a telemarketing scheme that defrauded hundreds of victims throughout the United States on Tuesday, March 30. 

Shah and Smith were booked in Salt Lake City on conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing and conspiracy to commit money laundering charges. They each face a maximum sentence of 30 years for the wire fraud charges and an additional 20 years for the money laundering charges.

“Jennifer Shah, who portrays herself as a wealthy and successful businessperson on ‘reality’ television, and Stuart Smith, who is portrayed as Shah’s ‘first assistant,’ allegedly generated and sold ‘lead lists’ of innocent individuals for other members of their scheme to repeatedly scam,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a press release on Tuesday, reports the outlet. “In actual reality and as alleged, 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. Now, these defendants face time in prison for their alleged crimes.”

“Shah and Smith flaunted their lavish lifestyle to the public as a symbol of their ‘success,’” HSI Special Agent-in-Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh added. “In reality, they allegedly built their opulent lifestyle at the expense of vulnerable, often elderly, working-class people. As alleged, disturbingly, Shah and Smith objectified their very real human victims as ‘leads’ to be bought and sold, offering their personal information for sale to other members of their fraud ring. Working with our partners at the NYPD and the United States Attorney’s Office, SDNY, and with the assistance of HSI Salt Lake City, HSI New York worked to ensure that Shah and Smith will answer for their alleged crimes. As a result, their new reality may very well turn out differently than they expected.”

According to Us Weekly, New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea went on to thank the “hard work” of the NYPD for the case.

“These individuals allegedly targeted and defrauded hundreds of victims but thanks to the hard work of the NYPD and our law enforcement partners, this illegal scheme was brought to an end,” Shea said on Tuesday. “I congratulate the NYPD detectives, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York for their hard work in bringing these persons to justice.”

Production on season 2 is currently underway, with Shah expected to return alongside Meredith Marks, Whitney Rose, Heather Gay, Lisa Barlow, and Mary Cosby. Shah has yet to publicly comment on the case.

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Photo Credit: Bravo Media/NBCUniversal via Chad Kirkland