Jen Shah has been accused of preying upon elderly victims across a multi-state scheme in which she lied about business opportunities available in order to gather personal information from these people and sell it to the highest bidder.
But The Real Housewives of Salt Lake Ciity star now says there’s only real victim in this alleged scandal.
And you can guess who claims it it, can’t you?
Yup: Jen Shah.
As you likely know by now, Shah was arrested in March.
The Utah native was indicted at the time for conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss in a press release, basically damning Shah straight to H-E-Double Hockey Sticks:
Jennifer Shah, who portrays herself as a wealthy and successful businessperson on ‘reality’ television… allegedly generated and sold ‘lead lists’ of innocent individuals for other members of their scheme to repeatedly scam.
Added Strauss:
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.
“Shah and Smith flaunted their lavish lifestyle to the public as a symbol of their ‘success,’” HSI Special Agent-in-Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh added.
“In reality, they allegedly built their opulent lifestyle at the expense of vulnerable, often elderly, working-class people”
Shah now faces a maximum sentence of 30 years for the wire fraud charges and an additional 20 years for the money laundering charges.
She has pleaded not guilty, and will even appear on the upcoming season of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.
Sources indicate that Shah’s arrest will be a central storyline (because of course it will), although Jen is now attempting to have all charges against her dropped.
Why?
Due to her dirty contact lenses.
In new court papers filed Monday in Manhattan federal court, the reality TV personality accused law enforcement officers of “trickery,” while trashing a “bare-bones” indictment and a “flawed theory of criminality.”
Those are some big words from someone who reportedly conducted a scam that spanned six states and netted her $5 million in crime proceeds.
In her affidavit, however, Shah claimed that she signed a document waiving her Miranda rights.
But only because “my contact lenses, which were in my eyes, were dry, and I did not have my reading glasses, so my vision was blurry and I was unable to read the paper in front of me.”
Seriously, give her a break, will you, law enforcement people?!?
The Bravo’s stars attorneys claim their client signed the paper “as a direct result of law enforcement deception and trickery calculated to overpower her will,” the court papers state.
Shah’s legal team also argues that there are “multiple flaws in the theory of this case [and] the investigation.”
In these legal papers, Shah details how she was “confused” when she was arrested.
She believed that it might have to do with a 2017 New York case in which she was a victim of theft and assault and had an order of protection against the perpetrator.
“I was at this point very confused and emotionally off-balance from the strange series of events, and thought I might have been the victim of a false identification,” explains Shah in the affidavit.
Shah goes on to allege that officers never told her about the basis for her arrest; nor did they tell her their conversation was being recorded.
“I did not know the purpose of the conversation or what, if anything, I was being charged with until close to the end of the 1 hour, 20-minute interrogation, shortly after Det. Bastos said, ‘I want to conclude,’” Shah writes in the affidavit.
Her lawyers say in the documents that the officer’s statements implied he was “trying to clear up an issue, if not trying to help her.”
In actuality, they claim?
The statements, “were plainly untrue, as he well knew that he would be taking Ms. Shah to a magistrate judge that day based on her having been indicted in New York.”
As you can see here, Shah appears to be trying to break free based on technicalities.
Her lawyers aren’t really arguing the merits of the case against her in this filing.
We’re not sure why she’s even bothering, either.
We were under the impression that God has a plan for Jen Shah.
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