Of all the Salt Lake City Housewives who could have potentially been sued or indicted for a crime, Jen Shah was fourth on my list. However, according to Ben Winslow, a Utah-based reporter, Shah and her assistant Stuart Smith—fans of the show might remember him as Stu Chainz—have both been indicted by a federal grand jury on “telemarketing/wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.”
Shah and Smith have been arrested and are set to appear before a court in their home state of Utah Tuesday afternoon. The two are accused of working together to sell “lead lists” to other “members of their scheme to repeatedly scam” and if convicted could face a maximum sentence of up to 50 years. Shah and Smith allegedly defrauded hundreds of people out of their money and as the statement from the Justice Department outlines, boasted about their wealth and success on national television.
On the show, Shah was a typical cookie-cutter housewife. A wealthy woman with seemingly no job but a slew of assistants around her to help her get her work done. The work in question was never filmed but a few scenes showed Shah sitting in an office planning events and parties with Smith. Fans questioned how Shah could be so wealthy when her husband was an assistant football coach at a college and she apparently didn’t come from money herself. We perhaps have some sort of answer!
DISCUSSION
They’re filming season 2 currently. Way to avoid the ‘sophomore slump’, lol.
I have so many questions. I find it interesting the show never portrayed her as a businesswoman other than having a ‘party planning’ business. It also explains how they lived the way they did on an assistant coaches salary. I wonder if Coach Shah knew all this time? I am dying to know how the other ladies are reacting, especially Mary and Meredith. They say she was doing this up until THIS MONTH, so did she have any idea she was under investigation?
A friend mused about this explaining her ‘erratic’ behavior. But she was a rager back when they filmed in 2019 and Heather said it was just who she is. Maybe she got worse as stuff started closing in, but I think that’s her programming...not a ‘defect’. I lost a parent due to a long illness less than a year ago, and it was stressful. I cried a lot and was a half zombie, I did not abuse people.
This also makes me wonder about Bravo’s vetting processes. This (and all the other scandals) makes it seem like they don’t even do the most cursory of background checks on people’s businesses and/or they do, but don’t care.