‘RHOSLC’: Jen Shah Opens Up About Being in Denial Amid Fraud Case Despite Knowing She Was Guilty
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City standout Jen Shah is in a federal prison. The fashionista, who flaunted her extreme wealth on the reality series, pleaded guilty to running a telemarking scheme in which she defrauded a vulnerable demographic into spending money on fake online marketing tools. Initially, she insisted she was innocent, but that changed in the days leading up to her highly anticipated trial. Shah claims she stood by her innocence because she was in denial and didn’t want to accept the consequences.
Jen Shah says she was in denial over her guilt amid ongoing fraud case
Shah was scheduled to do a 1:1 interview with Andy Cohen. Instead, she chose to speak with White Collar Advice after she alleged she would be forced to discuss certain things with the Bravo honcho that she was not at liberty to do. In her chat with the popular YouTube show, she reflected on the day she was first arrested in 2021. It was all captured on camera for the reality show. And she says she was stunned.
“[I was thinking to myself] They must have the wrong person. They must have this all wrong. I didn’t do anything,” she remembers. “I was in complete denial at that time and for a long time throughout the process because I truly believed and was telling myself that I’m not guilty of these things that they’re accusing me of,” she admitted. “It was like I was in this tunnel, and I was only seeing what I wanted to see.”
As for why she stood by a fake guilty plea for over a year, she says it was difficult for her to accept the damage she’d done, and then face such significant consequences. “I was lying to myself because I didn’t want to accept that I had done these things or that I had hurt anybody,” she explained. “I was lying to myself and telling myself what I wanted to hear … That wasn’t supposed to be my reality, and that thinking fostered more bad decisions for me throughout the legal process.”
The ‘RHOSLC’ star reveals what made her admit her guilt
Weeks before the trial began, Shah shocked followers by changing her plea to innocence. At her sentencing, her legal team explained that she realized the mountain of evidence against her was impossible to deny. Additionally, her team says she felt extreme remorse for the victims, many of whom testifed via written statements that they lost their life savings and maxed out credit cards to purchase her fraudulent services.
In her interview, Shah explained how the victims’ statement impacted her. “The biggest thing for me was seeing an actual list of victim names,” she said. “It became a reality for me at that point that there were actually people hurt from this … And that’s when I had to make the hardest decision of my life … I had to sit there and say, ‘I have to do the right thing now.’”
Shah says her guilty plea “was the hardest decision.” It’s not one that she made quickly or easily. “Because of the lie I was telling myself, and until I could come out from under that lie and see it, I couldn’t change anything else, and I was never going to hold myself accountable or admit guilt,” she added.
She’s currently serving a lengthy prison sentence
As promised during her testimony, Shah is ready to try and make amends for the crimes she committed. She turned herself into a federal prison to begin serving out a 6.5 year sentence. She also has to pay millions back in restitution, and serve an additional 5 year probation.
