Jen Shah’s Husband Pleads with Judge for Leniency in Fraud Sentencing, While Gov. Seeks 10 Years in Prison

Jen Shah’s husband, Sharrieff Shah Sr., is pleading for a judge to show his wife leniency in her upcoming Jan. 6 sentencing for fraud.

via: People

According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, the United States government penned a request ahead of Shah’s January 2023 sentencing to recommend she receive 120 months of imprisonment, or 10 years total.

The government outlined its reasoning for its recommendation to the United States district judge in the memo, filed Friday, saying the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star “took a series of increasingly extravagant steps to conceal her criminal conduct from the authorities” and “engaged in a years-long, comprehensive effort to hide her continued role in the scheme.”

“For nearly a decade, the defendant was an integral leader of a wide-ranging, nationwide telemarketing fraud scheme that victimized thousands of innocent people. Many of those people were elderly or vulnerable,” the document reads. “Many of those people suffered significant financial hardship and damage. At the defendant’s direction, victims were defrauded over and over again until they had nothing left. She and her co-conspirators persisted in their conduct until the victims’ bank accounts were empty, their credit cards were at their limits, and there was nothing more to take.”

Additionally, the government argued that Shah is “the most culpable person charged in this case” and her “belated expressions of remorse ring hollow.”

They noted her post-arrest behavior — including how she went “on a public offensive against the charges and tried to profit off the charges by selling ‘Justice for Jen’ merchandise” — should warrant a longer sentence.

In light of all of this, the government believes that giving Shah a 10-year sentence is “sufficient.”

Shah, 49, was arrested in Utah in March 2021 alongside her assistant Stuart Smith for allegedly orchestrating a phone scam to defraud people over the age of 55. She initially declared she was innocent before later choosing to enter a guilty plea in July.

“We used interstate telephones and emails. I knew many of the purchasers were over the age of 55. I am so sorry,” the reality star said in court, per a tweet from Inner City Press’s Matthew Russell Lee.

Shah will be sentenced on Jan. 6, 2023.

The mother of two gained recognition as a cast member of RHOSLC. She had been a part of the Bravo series since its first season, which premiered in November 2020. The show is now in its third season.

Though she was still featured in season 3 despite the scandal, Shah recently revealed she will not appear in the upcoming reunion. The reality star said Bravo executives informed her she was “not invited” to film the special because she was unwilling to discuss her ongoing legal woes.

“I was clear with Bravo that out of respect for the courts and a standing judicial order, I would not be in a position to discuss anything related to my legal case or sentencing,” she said in a statement shared on Instagram.

“Bravo found this unsatisfactory and said they expected to discuss this ‘storyline,'” she continued. “That expectation has no regard for me or my family’s well-being; so under legal advice, I will not be attending the reunion. I need to focus on the important thing in my life – my family.”

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.