Jen Shah's Victim Impact Letters Detail 'Everyday Struggle' After Fraud Scheme 'Turned Our Lives Upside Down'

Mar. 15, 2025

A year and a half into an “exhausted, overwhelmed, and frustrated” widow’s grieving period, she came across an email that appeared to be the solution to her problems. The services being pitched were for a tutoring course for a salaried sales position. She initially believed it would be “an investment into my future,” but the dream situation quickly turned into a nightmare.

The widow writes that she was required to hand over thousands of dollars, noting how the individuals who tutored her through the service “charged a different amount.” Though she was unable to keep up with the pace of the program and was not “confident enough” to proceed forward alone, she discovered she was being “snowballed” as the “e services tried to set up a business for me on a website” without her awareness.

She eventually began experiencing depression that she feared was “going to make me suicidal.”

“Your sanity is in doubt, your confidence eroded, your independence, what limited amount there is, curbed and you can’t trust anybody. You are not the same person you were before this experience,” she wrote in one document. “Whoever these telemarketers are, should cease stealing money and repay what they stolen, and perform acts of restitution, such as living as we are, doing what we do with what limited resources we have, and pay for medical services, such as therapy or psychiatric meds.”

She continued, “The mental anguish is still with me, today, and the guilt I harbor from being so vulnerable and easy prey to such sharks, still swim in my mind. I do not want the next person to suffer any of these mental anxieties, such as I have. What is normal? I do not know anymore. Let the punishment fit the crime, Replace what you have taken and correct the consequences, the action caused.”

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He then noticed how multiple things appeared to be “duplicated” across the services. Later, he realized he had been “conned” and “wasted about $40,000 trying to do good for my family.”

“Each person scammed has their own story with a dream of a better retirement and life. That was taken away when they were [coerced] to give their money for false promises,” he continued. “Please consider the suffering caused to these seniors possibly because of now not having the money for food, medicine or medical treatment they need. All who had their money stolen cannot use that money to increase their quality of life in retirement.

He added, “Please consider this when passing judgment on Mrs. Jennifer Shah. Her restitution and time served should put her into the same or similar hardship as her victims. It was her choice to commit the crime for fame, drinks, fun and [luxury]. You are the Judge. I request that your judgment carry the same hardships she has caused her victims.”

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A fourth person detailed “the emotional, mental, physical and financial anguish” Shah’s scheme has done not only to him but also to his family.

“I almost lost everything that I worked for, as well as my life and almost cost me my marriage as well as ruining my kids lives for eternity. What I thought started out to be an investment in a company that I could pass on to my children if the business got off the ground successfully, ended up almost ruining ALL OF OUR LIVES,” they wrote. “When I thought you were all legitimate business people, helping me start out a new business that would be a great venture, totally turned our lives upside down within a very short period of time.”

He said he lost more than $100,000 “due to the cost of starting up the business, [their] educational programs to get a successful business going, supplies, amongst other things and taxes.” Because of it, he had to re-mortgage his home and his marriage almost ended in divorce. They even had to “make excuses as to why I had so many bills I had to pay.” He also contemplated ending his own life but said he didn’t want his problem to become a “financial burden” for his family.

He directly addressed Shah in the victim impact statement: “You sounded sympathetic and convincing, so I trusted you. I was such an idiot. The courts may have some form of punishment for the lawless activities that have been committed, but even when you have served your due punishment, whatever that may be, our God and heavenly creator of all things will be the one, in the long run, who you will truly have to answer to.”

Jen Shah.Chad Kirkland/Bravo/ Getty

A fifth victim said they eventually became homeless due to Shah’s scam. They accumulated over $30,000 in debt. “I could go on and on but the point is I have the problem of faith and trust,” they added.

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In March 2021, Shah, 49, and her assistant, Stuart Smith, werearrestedin Utah for allegedly orchestrating a phone scam to defraud people over the age of 55. She initially maintained her innocence before laterentering a guilty pleain July.

On Dec. 23, the United States government requested that shereceive 10 years in prison, calling that a “sufficient” punishment. Shah is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 6.

source: people.com