Jen Shah, ‘Real Housewives’ Star, Released Early From Prison

Jennifer Shah, the former Real Housewives star who pleaded guilty to defrauding elderly people with a telemarketing scheme, was released from prison early, on Wednesday, Dec. 10. 

According to The New York Times, the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed that Shah had been transferred out of federal prison in Bryan, Texas. Shah will spend another year detained either at home or in a halfway house, though the FBP did not specify which due to safety and privacy concerns. Her confinement is set to end August 2026. 

Shah spent just under three years in prison after being sentenced to six-and-a-half years in January 2023. Reasons for her early release were not given. A rep for Shah did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s request for comment.

Part of the original cast of the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, Shah was one of its breakout stars when the new Bravo franchise premiered in November 2020. She appeared on the first three seasons of the show, which would chronicle some aspects of her legal troubles following her March 2021 arrest on wire-fraud and money-laundering charges.

Prosecutors claimed Shah defrauded thousands of people with her telemarketing scheme. Many of the alleged victims were over 55 and saw their life savings drained. Shah allegedly used the money from this scam to fund a luxurious lifestyle appropriate for a Real Housewives star.

Shah originally maintained her innocence and pleaded not guilty to the charges. But in July 2022, she reversed her plea, copping to a wire-fraud conspiracy charge. At the time, Damian Williams, then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement, “These victims were sold false promises of financial security, but instead, Shah and her co-conspirators defrauded them out of their savings and left them with nothing to show for it.”