Real Housewife Jen Shah Sentenced to 6.5 Years in Prison for Wire Fraud

A New York judge sentenced Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah to 78 months, or six-and-a-half years, in prison, plus five years supervised release, after she pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Shah appeared in Manhattan Federal Court on Friday for her sentencing, where U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein, who also presided over her guilty plea in July 2022, handed down her sentence to a packed courtroom. The judge attributed the crowd to Shah’s reality television celebrity in his opening statements, cautioning spectators to look beyond her media persona.

“Jen Shah’s role on The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, which I guess is why the courtroom is so full today, is just that, a role,” Stein said. “People should not confuse the character she plays on an entertainment show to the person before me.”

Shah, who was arrested in March 2021 and initially pled not guilty, was involved in a nationwide telemarketing scheme that defrauded thousands of people, many of whom were elderly or vulnerable. Her six-and-a-half years sentence is less than the 10-year sentence that federal prosecutors requested for the controversial reality star in a Dec. 2022 filing that identified her as “an integral leader of a wide-ranging telemarketing fraud scheme that victimized thousands of innocent people.” Conversely, Shah had requested a reduced three year sentence.

During her court appearance, Shah apologized for her actions.

“I am sorry,” Shah said. “My actions have hurt innocent people. I want to apologize by saying, I am doing all I can to earn the funds to pay restitution.”

Shah will begin her prison sentence on Feb. 17 at a facility in the Texas area.

Write to Cady Lang at cady.lang@timemagazine.com.