Jen Shah Released from Jail After Serving 33 Months Behind Bars for Telemarketing Fraud Scheme (Exclusive) By Dave Quinn and Liza Esquibias 16

Jen Shah has officially been released from prison, PEOPLE can exclusively reveal.

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City alum, 52, departed the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, in the early hours of Wednesday, Dec. 10, a rep for the star confirms. She has been behind bars since Feb. 17, 2023 (2 years, 9 months and 23 days) for her role in a long-running nationwide telemarketing fraud scheme.

Just where Shah headed after her release is remaining under wraps right now.

According to BOP policy, Shah could either have been released to her home or transferred to a halfway house to complete the remaining portion of her sentence under supervision. And while a final decision was made prior to her departure, that information is not being revealed yet in order to protect her privacy.

“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 told PEOPLE. “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.”

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Shah, along with her assistant, Stuart Smith, was arrested in March 2021 for allegedly targeting thousands of individuals, including the elderly, in a nationwide fraud scheme. They were both charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing and conspiracy to commit money laundering, the former of which Shah pled guilty to in July 2022.

“I am sorry. My actions have hurt innocent people,” the reality star 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 given a six-and-a-half-year sentence and surrendered herself on Feb. 17, 2023. Her sentence was later reduced several times — a decision the Bureau of Prisons attributed to good behavior, participation in prison programming and financial payments she has begun making to victims (in total, Shah has been ordered to pay $6.5 million in restitution).

In March 2023, just one month after she began serving her time at the FPC in Bryan, Texas — a minimum-security facility that also houses prominent inmates including Elizabeth Holmes and Ghislaine Maxwell — Shah’s time was cut by one year. It was decreased again in October 2024 and in January 2025, moving her projected release date to Nov. 3, 2026. 

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In August, another reduction brought her release date up to Aug. 30, 2026. PEOPLE exclusively reported in mid-November that the Federal Bureau of Prisons approved Shah’s early 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, told PEOPLE 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 told PEOPLE, “For privacy, safety and security reasons, we do not discuss any incarcerated individual’s conditions of confinement or specific release plans.”

Throughout her time in federal custody, Jen’s husband, University of Utah football coach Sharrieff “Coach” Shah, has steadily stood by his wife’s side. The pair also share two sons: Sharrieff Jr, 31, and Omar, 22.

In February 2024, Jen penned a personal letter to PEOPLE reflecting on the first year of her sentence, describing the “unrelenting” pain of being away from her family. She further said she had found humility and perspective in the stories of other women at FPC Bryan and wrote that her faith, daily prayer and therapy had helped her fight despair and stay grounded through the challenges of incarceration.

“I am most grateful for the aspects of my life that have never left me: my family and faith,” she wrote, noting, “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.”