‘RHOSLC’: One of Jen Shah’s Telemarketing Scheme Victims Filed for Bankruptcy
As The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah prepares to turn herself into federal prison, victims of her telemarketing scheme are speaking publicly for the first time. Shah pleaded guilty to a telemarking scheme, which prosecutors say she was the mastermind behind. One of her victims says she had to file bankruptcy, while another says she went through a mental health crisis due to losing so much money.
Jen Shah defrauded the elderly
Shah was an immediate standout on the show due to her opulent lifestyle. But many viewers, and some of her co-stars, questioned how she could afford such luxury. According to an FBI investigation, Shah’s designer clothing and large homes resulted from her running a telemarking scheme.
In Season 2, while production crews were present, Shah and one of her assistants, Stuart Smith, were arrested. They were later charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing and conspiracy to commit money laundering, in which prosecutors say they defrauded elderly victims by promoting and upselling fake online business marketing services.
“[They] generated and sold ‘lead lists’ of innocent individuals for other members of their scheme to repeatedly scam,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss previously said in a press release at the time. “In actual reality and as alleged, 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. Now, these defendants face time in prison for their alleged crimes.”
Weeks before she was set to go to trial, Shah pleaded guilty. She has yet to do a 1:1 in-depth interview about the ordeal.
One of Jen Shah’s victims says she had to file for bankruptcy as a result of the scam
Until now, Shah’s victims were only heard about during court testimony from lawyers. Impact statements were also read at her sentencing, but no one opted to speak publicly. Two of her victims bravely sat with interviews with Good Morning America to detail the devastating experience.
44-year-old Molly McGaulglin told GMA that she spent an estimated $44,000 in total on six different credit cards that she paid to Shah’s business. “All, of course, went into bankruptcy because, of course, I couldn’t afford to pay that,” she explained.
Text messages between Shah and her co-conspirators were released to the public. In the texts shown, Shah and others joked about their victims and plotted how to get more money out of them.
Another victim says she was severely depressed because of the scam
While one’s finances were ruined, another says she suffered more emotionally than anything. “I’m telling the world I was stupid enough to get caught in a scam, and I’m not a stupid person, but I did make a big mistake. Do I want to tell the world that? No. But I don’t want other people to have to go through that shame that I went through,” 75-year-old Trisha told GMA. She opted not to use her last name.
Trisha says she was scammed out of half of her life’s savings after she invested $47,000 on the false promise that Shah’s company would assist in her starting her online business. She was initially in disbelief when she learned she may have been the victim of a scam, but it turned out to be true.
Losing the money impacted her mental health greatly. “I am just recovering from being in deep depression,” she added. “You get to the point where there is no way out. I dont have the money to take care of myself,” she said.
Jen Shah will serve 6.5 years in prison
Shah was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison for the crime. She’s expected to serve at least 80% of the sentence. Upon her release, she has to pay over $6 million in restitution, undergo mental health evaluation and treatment, and be on supervised release for an additional five years.
