Chip Chick
“Jennifer Shah, who portrays herself as a wealthy and successful businessperson on ‘reality’ television, and Stuart Smith, who is portrayed as Shah’s ‘first assistant,’ allegedly generated and sold ‘lead lists’ of innocent individuals for other members of their scheme to repeatedly scam,” Audrey Strauss, Manhattan U.S. Attorney, said in a statement.
“In actual reality and as alleged, the so-called business opportunities pushed on the victims by Shah, Smith, and their co-conspirators were just fraudulent schemes, motivated by greed, to steal victims’ money.”
“Now, these defendants face time in prison for their alleged crimes.”
Jen and Stuart allegedly targeted hundreds of victims over the age of 55 in several different states.
Instagram; pictured above Jen snaps a selfie in her car
Jen and Stuart ran a telemarketing scheme in which they “generated and sold ‘lead lists’ of innocent individuals for other members of their scheme to repeatedly scam.”
They also went to great lengths to hide what they were doing. They used encrypted messages to talk to the other people involved in the scheme, moved money into offshore bank accounts, and used third-party names to incorporate their various businesses.
“Shah and Smith flaunted their lavish lifestyle to the public as a symbol of their ‘success.’ In reality, they allegedly built their opulent lifestyle at the expense of vulnerable, often elderly, working-class people,” HSI Special Agent-in-Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh explained.
“As alleged, disturbingly, Shah and Smith objectified their very real human victims as ‘leads’ to be bought and sold, offering their personal information for sale to other members of their fraud ring.”
“Working with our partners at the NYPD and the United States Attorney’s Office, SDNY, and with the assistance of HSI Salt Lake City, HSI New York worked to ensure that Shah and Smith will answer for their alleged crimes.”
“As a result, their new reality may very well turn out differently than they expected.”
