She’s got legal baggage.
“Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” star Jen Shah appeared in Manhattan federal court Tuesday for a final pretrial hearing ahead of her upcoming criminal fraud trial – and sported what appeared to be a red Gucci handbag that retails at more than $2,000.
At the hearing, prosecutors revealed her longtime assistant, who pleaded guilty in the telemarketing scheme in November 2021, would testify against the flashy reality TV star.
Judge Sidney Stein also set a trial date for July 18 and said the case would take about five weeks in Manhattan federal court.
In addition to the $2,500 red designer handbag, Shah, 48, sported a checkered black suit and a second, smaller Louis Vuitton bag worth upwards of $3,600.
Her husband, Sharrieff Shah, accompanied the embattled reality star to the courtroom, where she’ll be judged by a 16-person jury after the case.
Shah is charged as a leader of an alleged telemarketing fraud scam that preyed on elderly, working-class Americans, encouraging them to invest in phony online projects and selling bogus business services beginning in 2012, according to charging documents against her.
“At no point did the defendants intend that the victims would actually earn any of the promised return on their intended investment, nor did the victims actually earn any such returns,” the indictment, unsealed in March 2021, states.
Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York have argued Shah and her co-defendants were motivated by greed to steal money from hundreds of victims as they flaunted extravagant lifestyles.
Shah has pleaded not guilty to the charges.