Scott D. Pierce: “Prosecutors maintain that Jen continued to operate the scams up until the day she was arrested.”
That’s not exactly a startling revelation. And whether it will weigh into the judge’s decision when Jen is sentenced on Friday remains to be seen.
Don’t read into that being on the Bravo series led to Jen’s arrest and eventual guilty plea. The investigation was underway years before “RHOSLC” debuted in November 2020. The case dates back to 2012, and Jen was questioned by the Federal Trade Commission in 2015. On the contrary, “due to editing, scripting, and the network’s complete control over the ‘story-line’ … Shah has been made to seem intransigent, defiant, and often even unrepentant about her actions here. … The effigy of Jen Shah portrayed in the ‘RHOSLC’ has no bearing on who she is, whatsoever, and should not enter this court’s calculus in fashioning an appropriate sentence for the real Jen Shah.
I’m reminded of an “Amazing Race” contestant who, 15 years ago, angrily shoved his wife during filming of the show. The shove was included in an episode, and the husband complained about the editing — it was, he insisted, the only time he got physical with his wife and should not have been included. Jen’s lawyers tried this sort of thing before. They filed a motion to have the case dismissed after ABC News produced the Hulu documentary “The Housewife & the Shah Shocker.” They argued it made it impossible for her to receive a fair trial. The motion was denied.