Jen Shah Released from Jail After Serving 33 Months Behind Bars for Telemarketing Fraud Scheme

Jen Shah has been released from federal prison and transferred out of the facility where she’d been serving time for her role in a long-running telemarketing fraud scheme.

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City alum, 52, left the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, in the early hours of Wednesday, Dec. 10, after being incarcerated since Feb. 17, 2023 — a period of just under three years (2 years, 9 months and 23 days).

Where Shah will be living as she transitions out of prison is not being publicly disclosed.

Under Bureau of Prisons (BOP) policy, someone in Shah’s position can either be released directly to home confinement or moved to a halfway house to complete the remainder of their sentence under supervision. A decision about her placement was made before her departure, but officials are keeping those details private for now.

“We can confirm that Jennifer Shah transferred on December 10, 2025, from the Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan to community confinement overseen by the Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) Phoenix Residential Reentry Management (RRM) Office,” a BOP spokesperson said in a statement. “Community confinement means the inmate is in either home confinement or a Residential Reentry Center (RRC, or halfway house). For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not disclose an individual’s specific location while in community confinement.”

Shah and her assistant, Stuart Smith, were arrested in March 2021 and accused of targeting thousands of people — including many older adults — in a nationwide telemarketing fraud scheme. Both were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Shah later pleaded guilty to the wire fraud conspiracy charge in July 2022.

“I am sorry. My actions have hurt innocent people,” she said at her sentencing on Jan. 6, 2023. “I want to apologize by saying, I am doing all I can to earn the funds to pay restitution.”

She was initially sentenced to six and a half years in prison and reported to FPC Bryan, a minimum-security facility in Texas, on Feb. 17, 2023. Over time, her sentence was reduced multiple times — changes the Bureau of Prisons attributed to good behavior, participation in prison programming, and the financial payments she has started making to victims. Shah has been ordered to pay $6.5 million in restitution.

In March 2023, just a month into her sentence, one year was cut from her term. The sentence was reduced again in October 2024 and January 2025, eventually moving her projected release date to Nov. 3, 2026. Another reduction in August 2025 shifted that date to Aug. 30, 2026. By mid-November, federal authorities had approved an even earlier release for Dec. 10.

“Everyone’s very grateful for the BOP’s decision, especially because it means Jen will be able to reunite with her family for the holidays,” Shah’s manager, Chris Giovanni, said at the time. “It’s a gift she doesn’t take for granted.”

“Jen’s in a really positive, hopeful place mentally,” he added. “She’s done a lot of reflecting and real growth during her time away, and is genuinely not the same woman as she was before. Her focus is on her family and building a healthier, more grounded life. She understands the seriousness of the mistakes she made and is excited to put this chapter behind her so that she can show everyone the woman she’s worked hard to become.”

A representative for the Federal Bureau of Prisons noted, “For privacy, safety and security reasons, we do not discuss any incarcerated individual’s conditions of confinement or specific release plans.”

Throughout Shah’s time in federal custody, her husband, University of Utah football coach Sharrieff “Coach” Shah, has remained publicly supportive. The couple share two sons: Sharrieff Jr., 31, and Omar, 22.

In February 2024, Shah wrote a personal reflection on her first year behind bars, describing the “unrelenting” pain of being separated from her family. She said listening to the stories of other women at FPC Bryan had given her new perspective and humility, and that her faith, daily prayer and therapy had helped her cope with the mental and emotional toll of incarceration.

“I am most grateful for the aspects of my life that have never left me: my family and faith,” she wrote, adding, “In my daily prayers, I ask God for the courage to realize I am worthy of a second chance … I am finding the courage to set my fear and guilt aside.”