Jen Shah is asking the judge in her case to delay her May hearing as her attorneys claim they need an extra month to prepare.
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star’s next hearing is scheduled for May 10, but that’s apparently not enough time for her lawyers to go over the “tremendous amount” of evidence federal prosecutors allegedly have against Jen.
According to Radar Online, who have obtained the court documents, prosecutors handed over a significant amount of discovery materials collected from the investigation into the reality star, and her legal team is asking for the next hearing to be pushed to June 18. They explain in the documents that since their client was charged as part of a larger federal investigation, the amount of evidence is extensive.
Following Jen’s March 30 arrest for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, it was revealed that she, along with her assistant Stuart Smith, were just the latest to be indicted in the years-long investigation. In fact, the feds arrested multiple other defendants in the alleged scheme back in 2019. As a result, Jen’s legal team needs more time to process the “complex case.”
“[We] have worked diligently to familiarize ourselves with a very complex case involving a related indictment that was tried, more than two dozen defendants between both cases, and, most significantly a tremendous volume of discovery materials,” one of Jen’s attorneys claimed in court documents.
The attorney added, “The discovery, in this case, adds up to more than 277 gigabytes of data, which could well number a million pages or more of documents.”
As fans likely know, Jen has been accused of targeting vulnerable victims, many of them elderly, in a telemarketing scheme that defrauded thousands of victims out of millions of dollars. Nevertheless, she pleaded not guilty to the charges on April 2, and she is currently free on a $1 million recognizance bond. If convicted on both charges, she’s facing up to 50 years in federal prison.
For the time being, the judge has yet to rule on her team’s request for more time, according to her attorney.
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City season two is expected to premiere in late 2021 or early 2022, and Jen’s legal troubles will reportedly be the central storyline.
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