Credit: Bravo
Jen Shah is reportedly headed for a “horrible outcome” after being charged with fraud and money laundering earlier this year.
Months after the 47-year-old Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star was accused of “orchestrating a telemarketing scheme, attorney Ronald Richards, who is currently investigating Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member Erika Jayne, 50, as part of the bankruptcy proceedings against her estranged husband, Thomas Girardi, 82, is weighing in on her case.
“I think she’s on a collision course for a horrible, horrible outcome,” Ronald admitted on the August 3 episode of Juicy Scoop. “She’s charged in a place that most Americans don’t understand very well and that’s called the Southern District of New York. You’re up against prosecutors that are so much better than anybody you’re going to hire and they’re treated with the highest level of respect by the judges in that district.”
“It has to be clear that you are innocent, not like what’s going on in this case where you have all these documented frauds, multiple guilty pleas, but everybody is guilty but Jen Shah,” he continued.
According to Ronald, Jen first hired a high-powered D.C. attorney but has since began working with a “less expensive” lawyer, likely because of “financial reasons.”
Either way, he doesn’t know how Jen, who was arrested in March, could evade time behind bars. as other defendants who had the same classification as her got hefty prison time, with one getting 60 months and other getting 78 months behind bars.
“The government has said in a sentencing memorandum that she’s at the top of the food chain and that was someone that got like, 78 months. So Jen Shah, if she’s not careful, she could be looking at 90 to 120 months in this case, a crippling sentence,” he warned.
Ronald then criticized Jen for her “Free Jen Shah” social media posts and “filing frivolous motions that are going nowhere,” stating that he doesn’t think Jen understands federal court.
“In federal court, if you own it early on, you can save yourself years in prison,” he explained. “There’s a one percent acquittal rate and that’s because they don’t indict you unless they really have enough evidence, typically. They work their cases up for years before they indict.”
Although Ronald believes there was a lot to work with in terms of a plea deal, Jen took a much different route and will likely pay the price because of it.
“By her coming in, filing this motion that her statement should be suppressed, and all the other nonsensical things she filed, she lost every single motion practically, you’re just focusing the government on you where these defendants, you’ve gotta look at the other defendants on the case, they’re getting four to five years and those aren’t the heavies,” he noted.
Because of their ongoing legal issues, both Erika and Jen are said to be in jeopardy of being fired from RHOBH and RHOSLC, respectively.
“Bravo has a list of their most problematic stars. Jen and Erika are at the top,” an insider told Life & Style in July. “No one knows what their future holds. One minute you’re holding a diamond or a snowball, and the next, you’re looking for work.”
Jen is facing 50 years behind bars.