Judge Rules Bravo Footage Admissible

 

 

Embattled Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star, Jen Shah, has suffered a setback in her upcoming criminal trial which starts next month.  The judge in the case denied her lawyers motion which  would have prohibited the prosecution from using "damaging" footage from Shah's reality TV show.

 

Shah was arrested for her alleged role in a massive telemarketing fraud scam which allegedly targeted the elderly, lasting from 2012 until the time of her arrest. She denies the allegations and is headed to trial. Her former assistant, and alleged partner in crime, Stuart Smith, was also charged, but he recently changed his plea to guilty, potentially becoming a witness for the prosecution.

 

Shah attorneys are also asking for certain topics not to be allowed at her trial. They believe the government is set to introduce evidence that accuses Shah of committing tax evasion during the period of the conspiracy and that the tax fraud involved income from her participation in the crimes charges. The defense claims the government has offered no detail as to the alleged tax evasion, “neither the timing or the alleged evasion nor its extent.”. The government also plans to accuse Shah of failing to maintain records relating to foreign financial accounts.  But again, the prosecution has provided no detail and wants it barred from being discussed in court.  Hmmm ... I wasn't aware that the prosecution was required to "play all their cards" before a trial.

 

Shah's defense team is also moving to block accusations that Shah directed Stuart to lie during a Federal Trade Commission deposition.  The motion then addresses the show itself, noting that “The Housewives franchise is part of the reality TV genre, which is defined as TV made from ordinary people playing themselves in a TV show.”.  Attorneys argue that the characters on the franchises “stand to make enormous sums of money if they are successful.”, adding that the cast makes more money ever season they are on.  Shah says she joined the show because it was an opportunity to advertise her fashion business, and admits the cast has an incentive to exaggerate their characters and dramatize their lives in order to participate in the currency of the Housewives franchise: drama, conflict and conspicuous consumption.

 

“The women and their lives are both real and fake and it is impossible to tell where reality ends and fantasy and outright deception and fakery begins,” Shah’s lawyer writes.  Shah argues the producers craft the storylines and “the actual episodes of Housewives, those that are seen on TV, are highly edited and crafted through post-production.” She is also demanding statements made by any alleged co-conspirators not be talked about in front of the jury.