Maintaining her innocence. Throughout season 2 of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, Jen Shah has repeatedly denied any involvement in the alleged crimes that led to her arrest.
In March 2021, the Bravo personality and her assistant Stuart Smith were arrested for their alleged roles in a telemarketing scheme that defrauded hundreds of victims across the United States.
“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 at the time. “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.”
Jen pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing and conspiracy to commit money laundering charges, but her troubles are far from over. While she waits for her trial to begin in March, she’s been dealing with the fallout of the arrest at home.
“It’s been a very stressful time,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in December 2021, noting that the arrest “put a strain on” her marriage to Sharrieff Shah. During season 2 of the show, Jen confessed that the duo considered divorcing at one point and have been attending couple’s therapy.
“I thought that my entire world was ending,” she told Lisa Barlow during the September 12 episode of RHOSLC. “Sharrieff felt like he wasn’t being a positive influence in my life. Like, he couldn’t help me. What I didn’t realize was how I was acting and because I hadn’t fully told him how I was feeling, it made him feel like he was the problem.”
After her arrest aired during the November 7 and 14 episodes, Jen hasn’t hesitated to tell her costars that she’s innocent. “It’s really unfair the things that the government can do to you without having any real proof or anything,” she said during a lunch with Heather Gay.
Later, when Mary Cosby mistakenly said, “I pray to God you’re guilty … you’re innocent,” Jen replied, “I am innocent.”
Stuart, meanwhile, hasn’t appeared on the show since the arrest, but in November 2021, he changed his plea to guilty. “He pleaded guilty to three counts: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice,” attorney Ronald Richards, who is not affiliated with the case, told Us at the time.
Keep scrolling to see everything Jen has said about her legal trouble during season 2 of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City: