A federal judge in Manhattan has apparently refused to dismiss the criminal case against "Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" star Jennifer Shah.
Court records show that following a hearing Friday in U.S. District Court in New York, Judge Sidney Stein kept an October 18 trial date for her. The hearing was to discuss Shah's request to dismiss the criminal indictment against her as well as motions by one of her co-defendants.
Shah is among more than a dozen people accused in a telemarketing fraud scheme that federal prosecutors have alleged bilked elderly and vulnerable people in investments. She and her assistant, Stuart Smith, were arrested by federal authorities in March as the second season of the "Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" show was filming.
A new court filing shows federal prosecutors have listed Shah and Smith among the top tier of culpable defendants in the alleged multi-million dollar telemarketing fraud scheme. The document would be used at sentencing, if defendants are convicted.
"Tier A includes those defendants responsible for orchestrating the broader scheme (the 'Telemarketing Scheme' or 'Scheme') in the Western United States and supplying the leads that sustained the sales floors (the 'Telemarketing Companies') in the New York and New Jersey area. In particular, Jennifer Shah and Stuart Smith obtained leads directly from lead sources and provided them to, among others, coaching sales floors operated in Utah and Nevada by Kevin Handren and Cameron Brewster," federal prosecutors wrote, naming co-defendants. "Carl Morris generated leads from his sales floors in Arizona, and Ryan Hult acted as one of the primary brokers of leads from Arizona and Utah to floors in New York and New Jersey. Shah and Smith also owned and operated a sales floor in Manhattan that sold BizOp products to Victims who had previously purchased coaching from Handren and Brewster."
Shah has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Some of the defendants in the same case as Shah have struck plea bargains with federal prosecutors.
In a court filing in June, Shah sought the dismissal of the criminal charges against her arguing that it lacked any specific evidence of what she was accused of doing but focused on blanket allegations.
