Real Housewives of Salt Lake City's Jen Shah arrested on federal fraud charges

BuzzFeed News

Shah, 47, faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison after federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York charged Shah and her assistant Stuart Smith with "conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing and conspiracy to commit money laundering." Prosecutors allege that Shah ran a multiyear telemarketing scheme targeting elderly people. From 2012 through last month, prosecutors allege Shah and Smith conspired together to sell what they called "business services" to hundreds of people, many of whom were over the age of 55. U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a press release said that "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." Peter C. Fitzhugh, the special agent in charge of the investigation for the Department of Homeland Security, added: "Shah and Smith flaunted their lavish lifestyle to the public as a symbol of their ‘success.' In reality, they allegedly built their opulent lifestyle at the expense of vulnerable, often elderly, working-class people." Shah was one of the breakout stars of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, which debuted in November. Shah's Bravo bio describes her as "the queen of her house and her businesses as the CEO of three marketing companies. Always decked out in designer brands, Jen loves to host parties and spares no expense - it’s important to her that everyone knows she is the best host in Utah." Bravo declined to comment on Shah's charges. UPDATE: Federal law enforcement reportedly swarmed Real Housewives in the middle of filming today, but it's unclear if cameras captured Shah's arrest.