UPDATED with the most recent: Salt Lake City real housewives Star Jen Shah and her assistant, Stuart Smith, pleaded not guilty on Friday of charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and electronic fraud, according to CNN and NBC News reports.
The charges were filed on March 30 by the District Attorney for the Southern District of New York. The pair was arrested the same day.
Shah will be allowed to post a $ 1 million bail bond. During her time out on bail, she is banned from any association with telemarketing activities and must remain in the state of Utah. Shah can, however, travel to Washington, DC and New York to appear in court.
The trial is scheduled to begin on October 18.
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PREVIOUSLY on March 30: More legal problems for the Real housewives franchise. Federal prosecutors say Salt Lake City real housewives star Jen Shah and her assistant, Stuart Smith, involved in a national fraud, telemarketing and conspiracy to commit money laundering scheme.
According to the lawsuit, the pair and other accomplices “carried out a comprehensive telemarketing scheme that defrauded hundreds of victims (the” Victims “) across the United States, many of whom were over 55.” They are accused of “selling victims ‘so-called’ commercial services ‘in connection with the victims’ alleged online businesses”.
The prosecution alleges “a broad and coordinated effort to browse lists of potential victims, or ‘leads’, many of whom had already made an initial investment to create an online business with other participants.”
O Real housewives duo allegedly, “among other things, generated and sold leads to other Participants for use in their telemarketing sales rooms with the knowledge that the individuals they had identified as ‘leads’ would be defrauded by the other Participants. SHAH and SMITH received a portion of the fraudulent revenue as profit … ”
Shah and Smith are each charged with a “conspiracy to commit electronic fraud in connection with telemarketing whereby they victimized 10 or more people over 55”. This charge carries a maximum penalty of 30 years. Each of them was hit by a charge of “conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years”.
Shah and Smith were arrested earlier today and will be presented this afternoon in the federal court in Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake City real housewives was renewed last month for a second season.
Of course, this is not the first time that one of the stars of the Bravo franchise has been hit by federal charges. Between 2014 and 2015, New Jersey real housewives star Teresa Giudice served 15 months in federal prison for fraud. Her husband Joe spent 41 months in prison.
You can read the entire federal indictment below.
Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Peter C. Fitzhugh, the special agent in charge of the New York Field Office for Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), and Dermot Shea, Commissioner of the O New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) has announced the cancellation of a replacement charge accusing JENNIFER SHAH and STUART SMITH of conspiracy to commit electronic fraud in connection with telemarketing and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The case was assigned to United States District Judge Sidney H. Stein.
SHAH and SMITH were arrested earlier today and will be presented this afternoon in the federal court in Salt Lake City before Judge Dustin Pead of the United States.
Manhattan prosecutor Audrey Strauss said: “Jennifer Shah, who portrays herself as a wealthy and successful businesswoman in the ‘reality’ of television, and Stuart Smith, who is portrayed as Shah’s ‘first assistant’, allegedly generated and sold ‘top lists’ of innocent individuals to other members of his scheme to defraud repeatedly. In real reality and as alleged, the so-called business opportunities pushed to the victims by Shah, Smith and their co-conspirators were just fraudulent schemes, motivated by greed, to steal the victims’ money. Now, these defendants face prison terms for their alleged crimes. “
HSI’s special agent in charge, Peter C. Fitzhugh, said: “Shah and Smith displayed their luxurious lifestyle to the public as a symbol of their ‘success’. In reality, they supposedly built their opulent lifestyle at the expense of vulnerable, often elderly, working-class people. As allegedly, disturbingly, Shah and Smith targeted their true human victims as ‘leads’ to be bought and sold, offering their personal information for sale to other members of their fraud network. Working with our partners at 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 were accountable for their alleged crimes. As a result, their new reality may well be different from what they expected. “
NYPD commissioner Dermot Shea said: “These individuals have allegedly targeted and defrauded hundreds of victims, but thanks to the hard work of the NYPD and our law enforcement partners, this illegal scheme has ended. I congratulate the New York Police detectives, Homeland Security Investigations and the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York for their hard work to bring these people to justice. ”
According to the allegations in the Replacement Charge[1]:
From 2012 until March 2021, JENNIFER SHAH and STUART SMITH, together with others (collectively, the “Participants”) carried out a comprehensive telemarketing scheme that defrauded hundreds of victims (the “Victims”) across the United States, many of whom they were over 55, selling these victims so-called “business services” in connection with the victims’ alleged online businesses (the “Business Opportunity Scheme”).
To perpetrate the Business Opportunity Scheme, Participants, including SHAH and SMITH, engaged in a broad and coordinated effort to navigate lists of potential victims, or “leads”, many of whom had made an initial investment to create a online business with other Scheme Participants. Leads were initially generated by sales offices operating in, among other places, Arizona, Nevada and Utah. The owners and operators of these sales floors operated in coordination with multiple telemarketing sales floors in the New York and New Jersey area, including in Manhattan, and provided lead lists and assistance in fighting victim reimbursement claims for other Participants that operated these floors.
SHAH and SMITH, among other things, generated and sold leads to other Participants for use in their telemarketing sales rooms, knowing that the individuals they had identified as “leads” would be defrauded by the other Participants. SHAH and SMITH received as a profit a portion of the fraudulent revenue in accordance with the terms of their contract with these Participants. SHAH and SMITH often tracked every aspect of fraud perpetrated by other Participants on the individuals they identified, among other things, by determining which coaching sales floor could buy leads from them, selecting the downstream sales floors for which coaching The sales area was authorized to pass on the leads, choosing the companies to provide “execution” services, that is, documents and records that intend to demonstrate that the services that the Participants claimed to provide to these Victims were real and legitimate, defining how much the downstream sales The floors could charge and determine which “products” each of the subsequent sales floors could sell.
To perpetrate the Business Opportunities Scheme, some of the Participants sold alleged services with the aim of making Victims’ business management more efficient or profitable, including tax preparation or website design services, although many Victims are elderly and not have a computer. At the beginning of the Business Opportunities Scheme, certain Participants employed by an alleged execution company sent electronic or printed pamphlets to a particular Victim or provided so-called “training sessions” in connection with these alleged online businesses, but at no time did the defendants they intended that the victims would actually earn no promised return on their intended investment, nor would the victims actually receive any such return.
SHAH and SMITH have made significant efforts to hide their roles in the Business Opportunity Schema. For example, SHAH and SMITH, among other things, incorporated their business entities using third party names and instructed other Participants to do the same, used and directed others to use encrypted messaging applications to communicate with other Participants, instructed other Participants to send SHAHs and SMITH’s actions on certain frauds proceed to offshore bank accounts, and have made several structured cash withdrawals to avoid reporting requirements for currency transactions.
* * *
SHAH, 47, from Park City, Utah, and SMITH, 43, from Lehi, Utah, are accused of conspiracy to commit electronic fraud in connection with telemarketing through which 10 or more people over 55 have died, who carries a maximum sentence of 30 years and a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, since any sentence of the defendants will be determined by the judge.
Ms. Strauss praised the excellent investigative work of the HSI and NYPD Task Force El Dorado. Ms. Strauss also thanked HSI Utah and the Utah District Attorney for their support and assistance in this investigation.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Money Laundering and Transnational Criminal Companies. Assistant US Attorneys Kiersten A. Fletcher, Benet J. Kearney and Robert B. Sobelman are in charge of the prosecution.
If you believe you have been a victim of the scheme described above, including a victim entitled to restitution, and wish to provide information to law enforcement authorities and / or receive notification of future developments in the case or additional information, contact Wendy Olsen-Clancy, the Victim Witness Coordinator at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, at 866-874-8900 or [email protected]. You can also report this to Detective Christopher Bastos at 917-480-7167 or [email protected].
The charges contained in the Prosecution Replacement are merely charges, and the defendants are presumed innocent, unless and until their guilt is proven.