An unconfirmed report suggest that ‘The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’, Jen Shah has pleaded not guilty to the fraud charges levelled against her, and her bail has been put at $1million.
Jen Shah is getting the $1million bail condition, after she was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly scamming hundreds of victims, many of whom were over the age of 55, in a telemarketing scheme.
She was also charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, and facing a possible 30 years in prison.
Shah has maintained in several interviews that she runs three companies, including a couture dress line called JXA Fashion, her monthly subscription eyelash line Shah Lashes, and her skincare brand, Shah Beauty.
Manhattan US Attorney Audrey Strauss said this week, “Jennifer Shah, who portrays herself as a wealthy and successful businessperson on ‘reality’ television, and Stuart Smith, who is portrayed as Shah’s ‘first assistant,’ allegedly generated and sold ‘lead lists’ of innocent individuals for other members of their scheme to repeatedly scam.”
Reports showed that Jen Shah did not have any previous criminal records aside from a traffic citation in 1999.
According to the report by PageSix, source also confirmed that had any criminal activity or proof of an open investigation shown up on the background checks prior to casting, Bravo would have considered it a disqualifier and Shah would not have been able to appear on the show.
Jen Shah’s record came up clean when Bravo cast the alleged fraudster for Season 1 of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” multiple sources told Page Six.
The network had hired a third party through a production company to conduct a background check on Shah, as it did with all the “RHOSLC” wives, sources said.
“Even in the best background checks, [the alleged scheme] is not going to come up if there was a history of or current illegal activity, then that would be uncovered,” a source close to production said.
“There is a comprehensive background check and reports are vetted through the network and the production company.”
Sources said the probe would have only found past wrongdoing that was in the public record, not uncover any secret ongoing schemes.
“Since this investigation and arrest only happened this week, there would be no prior red flags that would have shown up,” a source said Friday. “Bravo is not the FBI.”