'Real Housewives of Salt Lake City' member gets 6 1/2 years
NEW YORK (AP) — A judge sentenced a member of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” to 6 1/2 years in prison on Friday for defrauding thousands of people nationwide in a telemarketing scam, many of them vulnerable or older.
U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein announced the sentence for Jennifer Shah after she sobbed while apologizing for the fraud. Stein presided over her guilty plea in July to a conspiracy charge for participating in a massive fraud for nearly a decade.
At the start of Shah's sentencing hearing, Stein cautioned a packed Manhattan courtroom that he was not sentencing the person people see on television. Stein said that person is “simply a character. It's acting."
He said the housewives program “involves role playing. ... It's a heavily scripted operation."
When Shah, 49, had a chance to speak, she too said she is not the person she is on the show.
“Reality TV has nothing to do with reality," she said. I am deeply sorry for what I’ve done. My actions have hurt innocent people."
She pledged to pay $6.5 million in restitution and forfeiture when she gets out of prison, and she apologized to everyone cheated by the fraud.
During the hearing, defense lawyer Priya Chaudhry said her client has undergone a dramatic transformation in recent months.
“Remorse can be genuine even if it shows up late. ... Her apology is real," she said.
A prosecutor disputed the turnaround, saying he didn't believe she showed any remorse at all, even at her plea.
Prosecutors said in a presentence submission that Shah should get a decade in prison, noting that she used profits from her fraud to live a life of luxury that included a nearly 10,000-square-foot mansion with eight fireplaces dubbed “Shah Ski Chalet" in the resort haven of Park City, Utah. The home, they said, is now...