Courtesy of Bravo; Jen Shah/Instagram
RHOSLC’s Jen Shah’s Husband ‘Constantly by Her Side’ Amid Prison Sentencing: She’s a ‘Mess’
Her support system. Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah’s husband, Sharrieff Shah, is “constantly by her side” now following her prison sentencing, a source exclusively tells Life & Style.
The football coach, 51, is “trying to help keep [Jen] together,” the insider says, adding that the Bravolebrity is “a complete mess.”
One week prior, the reality TV star was sentenced to 78 months – 6.5 years — behind bars during her January 6 wire fraud trial. She will also be subjected to five years of supervised release when she gets out of prison.
Prosecutors argued for Jen to serve 120 months, which equates to 10 years, in prison, whereas her defense attorneys requested a reduced three-year sentence. Aside from the prosecution, the United States government also extended its recommendation for Jen to be sentenced to 10 years in prison.
According to court documents obtained by Life & Style on December 23, 2022, the government pointed out that Jen “took a series of increasingly extravagant steps to conceal her criminal conduct from the authorities” and “engaged in a years-long, comprehensive effort to hide her continued role in the scheme.”
“Many of those people suffered significant financial hardship and damage,” the government added in the paperwork, noting that most of the targeted victims were “elderly or vulnerable” people. “At the defendant’s direction, victims were defrauded over and over again until they had nothing left. She and her co-conspirators persisted in their conduct until the victims’ bank accounts were empty, their credit cards were at their limits, and there was nothing more to take.”
Jen’s arrest and legal troubles became a significant storyline during season 3 of RHOSLC, which premiered in September 2022. During the season premiere, the Salt Lake City, Utah, native confessed to feeling “scared” about her imminent prison time.
“I’m not thinking about myself, I’m thinking about my family,” she explained in the episode. “I can’t imagine being away from them. It would literally kill me.”
Sharrieff and the couple’s two sons, Sharrieff Jr. and Omar, were present during her prison sentencing to support her.
The Bravo personality was arrested along with her assistant, Stuart Smith, in March 2021 for defrauding thousands of people, most of whom were elderly individuals, through a nationwide telemarketing scheme. Both Stuart and Jen were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Although Jen initially pleaded not guilty to the charges, she later changed the plea to guilty in July 2022, telling Judge Sidney Stein that she “agreed” to “commit wire fraud” during the years 2012 through March 2021. In return, the U.S. Attorney in the case agreed to drop the second count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
While her husband has stood by her throughout the ordeal, the source also exclusively tells Life & Style that Jen has “been a complete wreck since the sentencing.”
“She doesn’t want to go to prison, and she still hasn’t wrapped her head around it,” the insider adds. “She can’t stop sobbing.”
