Photo: Chad Kirkland/Bravo (2)
Heather Gayis coming toJen Shah’s defense.
During the June 2 episode of theSo Bad It’s Good With Ryan Baileypodcast, Gay, 38, defended herReal Housewives of Salt Lake Citycostar Shah, 47, after she wasarrested and charged in a telemarketing fraud schemeearlier this year.
“I think that good people can do bad things, and she is claiming she is innocent,” Gay said. “Even if she gets … wrongfully convicted, she can make things right.”
“She can redeem herself,” the Beauty Lab co-founder continued.
She said elsewhere during the candid chat, “I guess I am passionate about second chances because … when I got divorced, I didn’t have a second chance,” and added: “And that sucks, you know?”
Jen Shah.Chad Kirkland/Bravo/ Getty
Shah was arrested alongsideStuart Smith, one of her assistants who has also appeared on the reality show, in late March. The pair were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Shah and Smith, 43, allegedly carried out a nationwide telemarketing scheme with the help of others between 2012 and March of this year, according to the indictment. They are accused of having “defrauded hundreds of victims” with purported business services.
Prosecutors claim that Shah and Smith’s scheme was a “coordinated effort to traffic in lists of potential victims,” referred to as “leads.” From there, they allegedly sold those leads to telemarketing companies that would attempt to sell business services to the targeted individuals. The pair “received as profit a share of the fraudulent revenue per the terms of their agreement with those participants,” according to the indictment.
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Shah and Smith were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing through which they allegedly victimized 10 or more persons over the age of 55, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.
At their arraignment in April, both Shah and Smithpleaded not guiltyto the charges leveled against them. Shah currently awaits her trial, which is set to take place later this year in October.
Previously, Shah was not asked to put up a specific amount of bond in the form of cash or property, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Kiersten Fletcher requested during the arraignment to update Shah’s bail conditions.
RELATED VIDEO: Jen Shah ‘Was Filming’ Real Housewives of Salt Lake City the Day She Got Arrested, Says Source
Asource previously told PEOPLEthat Shah was filming her hit Bravo series on the same day she was arrested.
source: people.com
