[co-author: Heidi J. Bondiskey]

Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah was sentenced to 78 months in prison on January 6, 2023, in the Southern District of New York on charges of masterminding a wire fraud scam from 2012-2021, that targeted thousands of elderly citizens, while living a life of immense wealth and celebrity. Ms. Shah initially pled not guilty and was headed to trial proclaiming her innocence on social media and the show. However, Ms. Shah had a change of heart shortly before the trial was set to begin and pled guilty citing the government’s abundance of evidence against her. She further has stated that being confronted with their overwhelming evidence “finally woke her up.” Her defense attorney Priya Chaudhry stated to Judge Stein that “Ms. Shah was lost for months in an echo chamber of her own denial” but that “she found herself staring at her truth and the depth of her wrongs and she hurt them, and they were real and there was no more lying.”

Shah’s defense requested a sentence of 36 months incarceration while the Government argued in their sentencing memorandum for a sentence of 120 months incarceration. Government prosecutors indicated that Shah mocked the victims and suggested that any remorse was an extension of her acting. They supported their contentions by detailing the public offensive Ms. Shah went on after the indictment, including continually proclaiming her innocence on her television show as well as her attempts to profit off the charges by selling “Justice for Jen” merchandise.

There was a total of twenty-nine other individuals indicted as co-conspirators to Ms. Shah, including her longtime friend and assistant Stuart Smith. Mr. Smith along with other co-conspirators became cooperating witnesses for the government. Based upon this cooperation, the government was able to focus in and establish that Ms. Shah was the boss and mastermind behind the fraud. The following is a list of the defendants, grouped based upon an assessment of culpability by the Government, and sentence imposed:

Tier A

Jennifer Shah – sentenced to 78 months’ imprisonment

Carl Morris – sentenced to 78 months’ imprisonment

Cameron Brewster

Kevin Handren

Ryan Hult – sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment

Stuart Smith

Tier 1

Arash Ketabchi – sentenced to 87 months’ imprisonment

Christopher Wilson – sentenced to 78 months’ imprisonment

Jason Sager* – sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment

Joseph Minetto Chad Allen – sentenced to 48 months’ imprisonment

Shane Hanna

Anthony Cheedie

Joseph Ciaccio – sentenced to time served

Tier 2

Joseph McGowan – sentenced to 72 months’ imprisonment

William Sinclair* – sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment

Peter DiQuarto* – sentenced to six months’ home confinement

Michael Finocchiaro* – sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment

Raymond Quiles

Tier 3

Jack Kavner – sentenced to 51 months’ imprisonment

Daniel Quirk* – sentenced to 366 days’ imprisonment

Derrek Larkin – sentenced to 72 months’ imprisonment

Anthony Medeiros – sentenced to 66 months’ imprisonment

Brooke Marcus

Andrew Owimrin – sentenced to 52 months’ imprisonment

Joseph DePaola – sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment

Tier 4

Shahram Ketabchi – sentenced to four months’ imprisonment

Thomas O’Reilly – sentenced to 366 days’ imprisonment

Mattie Cirilo – sentenced to 12 months’ home confinement

*These Defendants received the benefit of a motion pursuant to U.S.S.G. sec. 5k1.1

This is not the first Bravo franchise star to faceoff with the Government in the court room, Teresa Giudice (Real Housewives of New Jersey) and LuAnn de Lesseps (Real Housewives of New York) have also been convicted of criminal offenses.