Former "Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" star Jen Shah is taking responsibility in her first interview since her December release from federal prison.
"I was wrong," Shah told People Magazine in an interview released on Tuesday. "I made wrong decisions. I should have done things differently. I should have been more diligent. And I’m deeply remorseful and sorry for my actions and for my part. I take full responsibility."
Shah, 52, was released in December from Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas, more than four years early from her 6½-year prison sentence in 2023. She served alongside other famous inmates, disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell.
The former reality star was arrested by the FBI in March 2021 —while cameras were rolling for the Bravo series — on charges in connection with allegedly running a nationwide telemarketing fraud scheme that preyed on the elderly.
While filming the show, Shah insisted on her innocence, saying "the only thing I’m guilty of is being Shah-mazing" in the opening credits for the show's second season.
In the wide-ranging interview with People, Shah said she "truly believed in my innocence," citing accusations in the indictment stemming from her time working for other companies.
"I thought I was doing the right thing for the majority of the time, and also under the direction of other people that were running the companies," she said. "And, honestly, you get there if you’re not careful."
In the weeks leading to her trial date, when her legal team received a trove of evidence from prosecutors, Shah told People Magazine that things changed.
"It was like a train hit," she said. "That was the first time I saw all of it — the communications, the interviews, the witnesses."
"I saw for the first time that there were people who were hurt. That there were actual victims as a result of this conspiracy," she added. "I had never seen anything with my own eyes. That changed things for me."
Shah pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection with the scheme in 2022 and was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison the following year. One reason for her reason, she told People, was that she didn't want to hurt her family.
"That was like the hardest, hardest decision that I ever made, because at that point I was like, do I drag my family through this and go to trial and perhaps still lose, and then what? I get the maximum?" she said through tears. "And not only that, but now I’ve destroyed their lives, right?"
She served time in a minimum-security all-women's federal prison camp that housed inmates convicted of nonviolent offenses and white-collar crimes in dormitory-style quarters.
"When I walked in, it took my breath away," Shah said through tears. "You hear people say it’s 'Camp Cupcake' — it’s not. It’s a prison. I just thought, 'This cannot be where I’m going to be every day.'"
"That first night, I was on the top bunk, and I faced the cement wall, and I just cried silently," she added. "Tears streamed on my face, and I just, I didn’t know how I was gonna do this."
Shah was also ordered in 2023 to forfeit $6.5 million and dozens of luxury items as part of restitution. She told People she is now working to pay off her restitution.
"I’m sorry," she told People. "I’m here, accepting responsibility, and have made it my mission, as part of my consequences and my responsibilities, to make sure that people are paid back through the restitution."
"These people deserve to be made whole," she added.
Shah also described what it was like being incarcerated with some of the most high-profile female inmates in the country.
She said she struck up a kinship with Holmes, with whom she lived in the same unit for part of her sentence, and took walks to discuss how to advocate for fellow inmates when they’re out. Holmes, who was convicted on federal fraud charges related to her failed blood testing company, is not scheduled to be released until 2031.
"Lizzie and I are good friends," Shah said about Holmes. "When you do poop duty with someone, you’re going to be close."
Shah explained that they shared a common bathroom in their unit, and when it wasn’t clean enough, they were tasked with sitting on metal chairs and inspecting the toilets after use.
"I almost made it through my time without having to do it," she said.
Shah had only "limited interactions" with Maxwell, who was moved from a higher-security prison in Florida to Bryan last summer, a frequency she said she preferred.
"Her experience there is very different than everyone else's, even Elizabeth and I," Shah said, noting that she was working in recreation and would see Maxwell there. "She is treated very differently there."
Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for recruiting and grooming teenage girls to be sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein, is scheduled to be released in 2037. House Democrats have been investigating allegations of special treatment afforded to Maxwell at the minimum-security facility.
She said Maxwell made it known, "at least to Elizabeth and I, that there’s no remorse there," when it came to accusers and survivors in her case.
"To see that kind of behavior, when there are real victims that you're seeing and what they've gone through, and to be so dismissive of that, that just didn't sit with me the right way," Shah told People.
Shah, who is currently on home confinement until August and must wear an ankle monitor, also reflected on her accomplishments in prison. She said she became certified as a personal trainer, taught recreational courses, and learned stories about her fellow inmates.
"Seeing their resilience, it’s something that made me just reach another level of humility and gratitude," she said.
Still, the former reality star — known for wearing designer labels and hosting six-figure parties — devised a prison skincare routine: hemorrhoid pads and laundry soap.
"I was like the Ulta at prison," she said.
