Early release adds a new turn to Jen Shah's long-running fraud case
Jen Shah's time in the federal setup drew plenty of attention; now she's out earlier from FPC Bryan - a low-security facility where Ghislaine Maxwell and Elizabeth Holmes are also held - adding a new twist to a saga dragging on for years. She was supposed to stay locked up till August 30, 2026, yet saw her 78-month term cut twice due to behaving well, soon after a 2023 decision forced her to hand over $6.5 million, along with paying over $6.6 million back.
At first, the 52-year-old TV figure faced the possibility of a long prison term after federal prosecutors alleged she and her aide, Stuart Smith, operated a scam that preyed on vulnerable people - many of them elderly - all while promoting their team as big-time success stories.
As Ivan J. Arvelo, top HSI agent in NYC, put it, they bankrolled their flashy lifestyle through hollow claims of getting rich quickly, seeing those victims not as human beings, yet targets to flip like stock, as reported by Fox News.
The investigation came from HSI's New York's El Dorado squad, who said their scam bankrolled a flashy public image while wrecking the lives of people caught in it. Even though Shah kept saying she didn't do anything wrong at first on 'The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City' - calling herself 'Shah-mazing' along the way - but she flipped by after that, admitting guilt in court; this wiped out the money-laundering charge, yet still forced her to give up millions.
Things got wild when police caught up with her just after a filming session in March 2021 - the Bravo crew was taping everything - as she left set early, then got arrested heading back home while authorities zeroed in on her long-running scam.