Prosecutors are fighting Jen Shah’s attempt to have her criminal charges dismissed.
According to court documents obtained by Radar Online, the government is asking the judge presiding over the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star’s fraud case to deny her recent motion, in which she accused police of tricking her into giving them information.
Prosecutors accuse Shah and her personal assistant Stuart Smith of playing a key role in a long-running telemarketing scheme. Both are facing one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
In court documents via Radar Online, the government says the two reportedly helped comply lists of people who the companies then allegedly scammed. Shah and Stuart are accused of received kickbacks as part of the scam.
In a recent motion, Shah demanded all entire case against her be dismissed. She claims the police coerced her into making statements following her arrest. Shah also says the allegations in the indictment are extremely vague.
Her lawyer said prosecutors presented a “bare-bones wire fraud and conspiracy theory that does not adequately allege either the required elements of intent to defraud.”
The outlet reports that Shah also has problems with the government not handing over the names of her alleged victims. The Bravo reality star is also demanding statements she made to a detective after her arrest be suppressed.
She says the officer used deceptive tactics to get her to talk. Shah claims she was in a vulnerable emotional state in the hours prior to her arrest. By the time she got to the station for questioning, she claims to have believed they accidentally arrested the wrong person.
She also says while the officer handed her a paper explaining her Miranda rights, she didn’t have her contact lenses in at the time. In newly filed documents via Radar Online, the prosecutors scoff at Shah’s claim the indictment is vague.
They say they handed over substantial discovery. Prosecutors say Shah was a sophisticated criminal and played a major role in the enterprise. They say she was responsible for finding the victims and then selling their information to the telemarketing companies.
In regard to Shah’s request for her statements to be suppressed, the government says the officer who questioned her did not make trick her into talking.
In court documents via Radar Online, the government tells the court Shah is “wrong” when she says she “did not voluntarily waive her Miranda rights.” They claim Shah signed the waiver form and it’s all on video.
Prosecutors also laugh at Shah’s story involving her contact lenses. “The defendant’s blurry contact lens was at most an irritant, but to the extent, it was causing her any physical pain or discomfort, the agents helped her fix it before questioning her,” they write. They are asking the court to allow the criminal case to move forward, reports Radar Online.
The news comes after 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.”
Photo Credit: Bravo Media/NBCUniversal; Shutterstock
![RHONJ Season 9 Premiere Recap: Wives And Dismeanors [Episode 1]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuryYm2OGpHl0P8gYhEIK2gXgipI0kBY1ubYwWZqbTzF22CZIXMfw0nwxB_lOBLW0ry_9wqEw7UyJDinR0pQS_B7M_Bnwt_3I6LuH9RAjcWPytv6ToIghyphenhyphenf6w9q18q4BtA_YOdBgYeKng/w680/181022_3816506_The_RHONJ_Season_9_Taglines_Are_Here_.jpg)
