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Andy Cohen has broken his silence one day after The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah pleaded guilty to the telemarketing fraud scheme she was originally arrested for in March 2021. “I don’t know how to feel about this, Jen Shah pleading guilty,” the executive producer, 54, said on his Sirius XM radio show, Radio Andy, per Page Six. “All it means is she’s changing her plea.”
Andy also noted that Jen had just gifted his 2-month-old daughter, Lucy, a present, which made the sudden turn of events even more shocking. “I was like, ‘Jen Shah, with everything you have going on, that you thought to send Lucy a gift…’ I just thought that was so nice of her,” he recalled. Andy also has a 3-year-old boy named Ben.
Jen, 48, was arrested on wire fraud and money-laundering charges in relation to a telemarketing scheme she allegedly spearheaded with her former assistant, Stuart Smith. They both pleaded not guilty, and Jen faced 30 years in prison. However, in Nov. 2021, Stuart flipped his plea and was sentenced to 72 months in jail with an additional five years of supervised release. With the reported plea deal Jen now has in the works, she is expecting to spend no more than 14 years in jail. It has also been reported that Jen will be required to pay back $9 million to the hundreds of elderly victims she defrauded plus an additional $6 million.
“Ms. Shah is a good woman who crossed a line. She accepts full responsibility for her actions and deeply apologizes to all who have been harmed,” Jennifer’s lawyer said in a statement to People magazine following her guilty plea. “Ms. Shah is also sorry for disappointing her husband, children, family, friends, and supporters. Jen pled guilty because she wants to pay her debt to society and put this ordeal behind her and her family.”
Just hours after Jen’s guilty plea, it was reported that Bravo cameras will continue to film her for RHOSLC so her full story can be told. “She’s had Meredith [Marks] and Heather [Gay] by her side, who have been very supportive of their friend during a difficult time. Obviously her legal troubles have not been easy for Jen, let alone making this decision to plead not guilty,” a source told People regarding the reality star’s situation. The insider added, “Producers don’t want us to stop following it now. They’ll keep filming with her as long as they can, just like they did with Teresa [Giudice].”