Jen Shah from RHOSLC has consistently proclaimed her innocence during the ongoing legal proceedings, while her primary aide Stuart Smith’s verdict has been altered.
Stuart Smith, who serves as an aide to Jen Shah, has acknowledged responsibility for charges related to his involvement in a nationwide telemarketing scheme.
During a court appearance on Friday, November, before Judge Sidney H. Stein, Smith, 43, altered his plea from not innocent to culpable.
He had previously maintained a not innocent stance alongside the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star.
In March, Smith was apprehended for wire fraud through telemarketing. He targeted and harmed ten or more individuals over 55.
Furthermore, he was accused of money laundering and obstructing an official proceeding.
Smith admitted to committing three crimes, which are conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and obstructing an official proceeding.
Almost two years have passed since Stuart Smith’s Verdict changed in 2021, and he has not received a prison sentence despite his scheduled sentencing in March 2022.
It is speculated that prosecutors may have delayed his sentencing until after Jen’s in order to determine an appropriate sentence for him.
Shah was arrested and charged at the same time. Shah, who is 48 years old, and his boss also faced charges. Both pleaded not guilty during an allegation in April, and Shah remains constant in maintaining her innocence.
Judge Stein has scheduled Stuart Smith’s verdict for March 3, 2022, and he has been granted bail until then. The judge mentioned that the maximum sentence for all three charges is 70 years in jail.
According to the court document, individuals involved in the same telemarketing scheme and charged similarly received sentences of approximately 5 to 7 years.
At his hearing, Smith confessed to participating in illegal activities involving multiple telemarketing companies he had been involved with by creating or working for them from 2008 to 2021.
He confessed, “I purposefully and consciously collaborated with other people to create a scheme or strategy to gain money through fraudulent means. This was done by persuading and enticing many individuals, most of whom were 50 years old or above, to give money to entities that I and my associates were associated with.”
It was revealed in Stuart Smith’s verdict that he discovered telemarketing companies were deceiving customers by selling them false services that supposedly improve their business opportunities. Most of these customers were over 50 years old.
According to him, the services that were sold had no value and did not benefit the customer in any way.
Earlier in 2021, Shah and Smith were arrested for allegedly carrying out a nationwide telemarketing scheme with the help of others from 2012 to March of this year.
According to prosecutors, they fooled hundreds of victims by offering fake business services. This information was released in a press statement.
According to prosecutors, Shah and Smith worked together to sell lists of potential victims, which they called “leads,” to telemarketing companies.
These companies would then try to sell business services to the people on the list. Shah and Smith allegedly made a profit from this fraudulent scheme by taking a share of the revenue.
In July, a court document stated that Shah and Smith are both “Tier A” defendants in a fraud case. The document alleges that they were the ones who staged the scheme and provided the leads that kept the telemarketing companies going.
What message did Jen Shah convey through a live show?
Shah was featured on a Bravo Instagram Live show called “Spilling Iced Tea” alongside Gizelle Bryant from The Real Housewives of Potomac in September 2021. During the show, they discussed Shah’s current legal issues.
The actress said, “I think what people don’t understand is, here in America, you’re innocent until proven guilty. I’m innocent, and I believe that this is not just my test, this is everybody’s test close to me and in my corner.”
How long did Jen Shah was in friendship with Stuart Smith?
The Bravo reality show’s third season trailer features Shah’s declaration of innocence. She accuses her ex-assistant, Stuart Smith, of misleading her about their fraudulent telemarketing business partnership. It’s worth noting that both Shah and Smith have pleaded guilty.
According to Jen, she and Stuart have been friends for nearly ten years. However, not much information has been shared about her initial assistant.
In episode 13 of Season 2’s RHOSLC After Show, Jen Shah disclosed additional details about her relationship with Stuart Smith, her original assistant.
They met while he was working for a company she was consulting for.
Shah claimed, “I got played by Stuart Smith, I would not be in this thing at all if it wasn’t for Stuart.”
On Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, Stuart Smith is known as Jen Shah’s “first assistant.” He wasn’t featured much in the first season, but in Season 2, he appeared in almost all the scenes with Jen.
Over an episode of RHOSLC After Show, Shah stated that she and Smith met when she was consulting for a firm.
Jen shared that she had helped Stuart keep his job multiple times during their years of knowing each other.
Apparently, whenever he faced any difficulties, she would interfere and convince others that he had good intentions. When she left her job, she brought him along with her as her assistant.
The reality star revealed that she would occasionally depend more on Stuart than her husband, Sharrieff Shah, who is also known by the name Coach.
