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Jen Shah has gone on record.
The troubled Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star said on a recent episode of the Bravo reality series that she’s a very generous person who only wants to help others.
The federal government disagrees, of course.
Shah was arrested in March and charged with money laundering.
She’s accused of generating and selling “lead lists” of victims across the country who could then be targeted as part of a telemarketing scam.
Many of these victims were elderly and/or members of the working class.
The spoiled and wealthy series regular pled not guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering charges in April.
On Sunday night, meanwhile, Hulu premiered a documentary titled The Housewife & the Shah Shocker.
Among those interviewed for the special?
-
Koa Johnson, a fashion designer who worked for Shah as her stylist in 2020. -
Two Homeland Security agents involved in her case. -
One of her alleged victims. -
Shah’s aunt, who is one of the few people who have spoken out in support of Jen.
Johnson, for starters, revealed, some very personal details about Shah.
She said her former boss often orders $12,000 gowns because “image is everything to her, how she looks, how people see her, how she sees herself.”
Johnson went on to say that Shah was “secretive” about her finances and didn’t actually own most of her expensive clothing or pieces of jewelry or even her cars.
She borrowed or leased these items.
“I think she’s the Wicked Witch of the West,” said Johnson.
Then, there’s Marie Walker, 67-year old teacher from Atlanta who hoped to start a health and beauty business during the pandemic.
She explained on air she clicked on an online ad to help her “Work from Home,” and was then bombarded with calls from all kinds of companies — including Mastery Pro, an alleged shell company set up by Shah.
According to prosecutor Kiersten Fletcher, the reality star had debit cards associated with the company at her home when agents searched the property.
Walker proceeded to detail how the supposed scheme worked…
“From Mastery Pro I did purchase a social media package, but I would need to send in $1,000 from my bank for a social media boost package.
“In January 2021, I started having a lot of problems with the website.
“I was trying to reach the marketing, the coaching, the website builders and I just couldn’t reach anybody.
“There was no website, nothing,” claimed Walker.
She continued:
“My head was really spinning there, I said, ‘Oh, this is just a scam.’
“I contacted all my credit card companies, my banks, I contacted the police departments, made reports, contacted the FTC.
“I put in a total about $18,000, I did get back some on my credit cards, about $8,000, but the rest is lost.”
Concluded Walker:
“If Jen Shah has been proven to scam people or defraud people, she needs to be punished.
“If I can talk to the people that scammed me, I would say:
‘Would you do this to your mother? To your sister? And why, why would you do this … and why would you keep doing it?”
Speaking in the documentary, Rick Patel, the Acting Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations New York, said it’s nauseating to watch how Shah continues to live a lavish lifestyle.
“When you talk to a victim and you see everything they’ve worked for and then you see where these fraudsters are living the best lives they can live, they don’t have a problem sleeping at night, I have a problem sleeping at night,” he said.
“We are going to try our best to get as much of their money back as possible.
“Getting restitution for the victims is always our #1 priority.”
Along with Shah, meanwhile, her assistant Stuart Smith was arrested this spring.
Although he initially entered a not guilty plea, he changed it to guilty earlier this month.
Said Smith after agreeing to a deal in which he very likely turned on Shah:
“I knowingly and intentionally discussed and engaged with other individuals to develop a plan or operation to obtain money by false representation by offering and inducing individuals, many of whom were over 50 years of age or older, to provide money to entities that I and others were involved with.”
Shah, for her part, has maintained her innocence.
“What I have been accused of is absolutely the complete opposite of anything I would ever do in my life,” she said last Sunday on Bravo.
“If I have any fault, it is because I am too giving and I help too many people.”
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