Jen Shah, the former “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” star currently serving time on a fraud conviction, will be getting out of prison a bit earlier.
The date Shah is scheduled to be released from prison is now Oct. 4, 2026, the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ inmate database indicated as of last week. People magazine and other media outlets reported in January that Shah’s release date had been moved to Nov. 4, 2026.
The new release date would also fall on Shah’s 53rd birthday.
Shah, 51, pleaded guilty in July 2022 to a federal charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Under the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped a second charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Shah had been accused of being part of an alleged telemarketing scheme that preyed on elderly people, prosecutors said.
A federal judge in New York sentenced Shah in January 2023 to 6½ years in prison. If Shah is released on the new 2026 date, she will have served 3 years and 8 months at the Bryan Federal Prison Camp in Texas. That’s the prison where Elizabeth Holmes is serving her sentence for fraud involving the blood-testing company she founded, Theranos.
Shah’s assistant, Stuart Smith, also pleaded guilty to fraud charges, Law360 reported, and cooperated with prosecutors in Shah’s case. Smith was sentenced in December to 9 months in prison; he’s now serving his term at a federal prison in Colorado.
Shah’s arrest was highlighted on the second season of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.” She has been absent from the show the last two seasons, though castmates evoke her name from time to time.
During the show’s season 5 reunion episodes last month, Meredith Marks mentioned that she had received a call from Shah in prison. The conversation, Marks told host Andy Cohen, “was very brief. She called me. Obviously, I can’t call her.”
When other cast members criticized Marks for communicating with Shah, Marks held firm. “She’s serving her time and paying restitution and has been accountable,” Marks said. “So what do you think she should do? Curl up in a corner and die? … Do you think there are no second chances in life?”
