Cast of 'The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City'

Jen Shah | Biography

Founder of JXA Fashion, Shah Beauty, and Shah Lashes

• By Reena Chikanbanjar
• Update : November 24, 2021

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Jen Shah is the cast of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. She was accused of running a US-wide telemarketing fraud scheme in March 2021.

Who Is Jen Shah?

Jen Shah is a Salt Lake City-based businesswoman. She is the founder and CEO of multiple companies based on beauty, fashion, and marketing businesses. Her most known business ventures are JXA Fashion, Shah Beauty, and Shah Lashes.

In 2020, Shah was cast in the reality television series The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. After joining the show, she portrayed herself as the CEO of three marketing companies. She also revealed that she operated many businesses and featured numerous employees of the Shah Squad.

But, she was arrested in March 2021 with charges of wire fraud and money laundering from innocent individuals, mainly older people. She was later released on bail on a $1 million bond. Her subsequent trial was scheduled for 18 October 2021. However, it has now been postponed to March 2022, because of the COVID protocols. In addition, her fraud case would be explored in a new Hulu documentary titled The Housewife & the Shah Shocker.

Age and Ethnicity

Jen Shah was born Jennifer Shah on 4 October 1973 in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is of Polynesian descent and has a mixed ethnicity of Tongan, Hawaiian, and Chinese. She was raised in Mormon. She attended the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah.

‘The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’

Shah was one of the main casts of the reality show The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City (RHOSLC). The series premiered on 11 November 2020 on Bravo. She appeared in 16 episodes of the series until the first season ended on 24 February 2021.

The RHOSLC season 2 returned on-screen on 12 September 2021.

Fraud Charges, Allegations, and Arrest

On 30 March 2021, Shah and her assistant and co-star of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, Stuart Smith, were arrested by New York Police Department (NYPD) detective Christopher Bastos. According to the press release of the United States Department of Justice, Shah and Smith were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud through telemarketing. He was alleged to have victimized ten or more individuals over the age of 55. The duo was also charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Furthermore, Shah and Smith, together with their co-conspirators, were alleged to have defunded hundreds of victims nationwide from 2012 until March 2021. The duo allegedly created a list of innocent individuals and sold those lists to other participants of their scheme to scam. It was also alleged that participants who were involved in the scam sold services like tax preparation and website design to many older victims who did not own a computer. Many of the individuals who were allegedly targeted and defrauded were over the age of 55. 

If Proven Guilty?

Shah could face a jail sentence of 30 years if she is convicted of wire fraud charges. Similarly, she could face up to 20 years of jail sentence if she is convicted of money laundering charges.

Bail and Trial

During the hearing in a virtual court appearance on 2 April, Shah pleaded not guilty to the charges made against her. She asked the judge to drop the criminal charges. Later, the judge required Shah to post a $1 million bond secured by $250,000 in cash or property. Her next trial has been scheduled for 18 October 2021.

Fund Me

To help Shah to cover her legal fees ahead of her October trial, her cousin Danny Filipe organized a $2.5 million crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe in Jen Shah’s name. Filipe wrote in the campaign statement that their family had already spent $138,000 for Shah’s legal defense, and the campaign was to cover further expenses needed for her trial in October. It was also stated that over 10,000 people in the U.S.were “falsely accused and wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not convict.” However, the campaign sparked a heavy counter-reaction from many people who commented that the campaign was “shameless” and “disgusting.” The campaign was deleted afterward.

Husband

Shah met her now-husband, football coach Sharrieff while attending the University of Utah in the early 1990s. They soon got married and welcomed their first child, Sharrieff Jr. in 1994. The couple welcomed their second child, Omar, in the mid-2000s. 

Shah revealed that the couple nearly got divorced between seasons 1 and 2 of RHOSLC. “I thought my life was, like, over. Sharrieff felt like he wasn't being a positive influence in my life. Like, he couldn't help me. What I didn't realize was how I was acting and because I hadn't fully told him how I was feeling, it made him feel like he was the problem,” she explained of their pre-arrest marital woes. "So he was like, ‘OK, I have to leave.' And at first, I thought, OK, this is just an argument. And then the next day, a divorce attorney contacted me. He had already reached out to a divorce attorney,” she said. However, they seemed therapy and have been together for over 25 years.

Religion: Mormonism to Islam

After learning that “Blacks weren’t fully accepted into the [Mormon] church,” Shah converted from Mormonism to her husband’s religion, Islam, in the late 1990s. She converted to Islam to raise her children with the values of her husband, who she considered a good person.

Net Worth

While Shah's actual net worth hasn't been revealed, it has been reported that she boasts an estimated net worth of $3 million as of 2021. the major source of her earnings is through her career as a television personality.