The 'Real Housewives of Salt Lake City' star's interview came hours before reporting to prison on Friday.
Jen Shah got a lot off her chest just hours before having to report to federal prison, granting an interview to a former convicted felon who now runs a service helping convicts prepare for life in and after prison.
In an interview with Justin Paperny, the co-founder of White Collar Service and author of Lessons From Prison and Ethics in Motion, the former Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star says she's going into prison with only two things -- her Quran and an 18-page release plan, which she said "has 11 different sections that is going to help me stay on track, hold me accountable, and it's something that I'm going to build on while I'm in prison."
Shah, 49, said the release plan was created by Michael Santos, the other White Collar co-founder. Shah also revealed she'll be documenting everything while she's in prison, calling her journal -- through a subscription-based website -- a "road map."
"This release plan is not only my road map but it’s what is going to hold me accountable for everything that I told the judge at sentencing," she explained. "That I will make sure that I make these victims whole. This release plan is going to help me be successful so that I can do that, so that I can prove worthy to my family of all the love and support they’ve shown me throughout this entire process."
Along with her guilty plea, Shah also agreed to forfeit $6.5 million and to pay restitution of up to $9.5 million. She spoke about paying back her victims in the interview.
"A big part of my release plan is repaying the victims and paying those that were hurt by my actions and my decisions. So, I've built that into my release plan: how am I going to pay those victims? ... I put an amount that I'm going to be paying," she said. "And I put that in there because once it's in my plan, that's going to hold me accountable. Throughout prison and after, I have in there the plan to continue to pay restitution. What am I going to do upon release? I have things written out in my plan, what I plan to work on, projects that I plan to do, my writings, all of those kinds of things, so that I know and people can hold me accountable."
Shah, who recently got a tattoo to honor her husband and two sons, will soon begin serving her six-and-a-half-year prison sentence, plus five years of supervised release for her involvement in a money laundering scheme.
After the sentence was handed down last month, Shah tearfully apologized to her husband, and her two sons, who, according to ABC News, were seated behind her.
Back in July 2022, the former reality star appeared in Manhattan federal court and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing. The second count, conspiracy to commit money laundering, was dropped at the time.
Following her sentence, the Justice Department said it vigorously protected Shah's victims of financial fraud.
"With today’s sentence, Jennifer Shah finally faces the consequences of the many years she spent targeting vulnerable, elderly victims," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said. "These individuals were lured in by false promises of financial security, but in reality, Shah and her co-conspirators defrauded them out of their savings and left them with nothing to show for it. This conviction and sentence demonstrate once again that we will continue to vigorously protect victims of financial fraud and hold accountable those who engage in fraudulent schemes."
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