Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’sJen Shahis facing federal charges for her alleged involvement in a nationwide telemarketing scheme.
The reality star, 47, was arrested on Tuesday alongsideStuart Smith, 43, one of her assistants who has also appeared on the Bravo series. They have both been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
For more on Jen Shah, listen below to the episode of PEOPLE Every Day.
Shah and Smith allegedly carried out a nationwide telemarketing scheme with the help of others between 2012 and March of this year, according to the indictment. They are accused of having “defrauded hundreds of victims” with purported business services.
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Prosecutors claim that Shah and Smith’s scheme was a “coordinated effort to traffic in lists of potential victims,” referred to as “leads.” From there, they allegedly sold those leads to telemarketing companies that would attempt to sell business services to the targeted individuals. The pair “received as profit a share of the fraudulent revenue per the terms of their agreement with those participants,” according to the indictment.
Shah and Smith were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing through which they victimized 10 or more persons over the age of 55, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Shah rose to prominence last year as one of the stars ofThe Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, thelatest installmentin the hitHousewivesfranchise.Her bioon Bravo’s website describes her as “the queen of her house and her businesses as the CEO of three marketing companies.”
A source tells PEOPLE season 2 of the series is currently in production.
source: people.com
