He didn’t plead the fifth! Throughout a CNN sit-down, Andy Cohen bought flustered and stumbled over his response when requested why he initially took Jen Shah’s “facet” in her fraud case.
“You’re on the file final November as saying that you just hope she would get no jail time,” Chris Wallace questioned the Watch What Occurs Reside With Andy Cohen host, 54, throughout the interview, which aired on Sunday, January 15. “And the query I’ve is: Why would you’re taking her facet towards the 1000’s of individuals she defrauded, together with a variety of aged?”
Cohen, who scrunched up his face whereas attempting to suppose again, replied, “I believe that I hoped she was truly harmless.”
Wallace, 75, fired again, “She pleaded responsible!”
The Bravo star tried to right the veteran journalist by stating that he stated that earlier than the Actual Housewives of Salt Lake Metropolis star pleaded responsible — “I believe,” Cohen stated — however Wallace famous it was after.
“Oh, actually? Oh, God,” Cohen cringed, laughing. “Wow, that is enjoyable.”
Shah, 49, and her assistant, Stuart Smith, had been arrested in March 2021 whereas RHOSLC cameras had been rolling. The 2 had been booked on conspiracy to commit wire fraud in reference to telemarketing and conspiracy to commit cash laundering.
Manhattan U.S. Legal professional Audrey Strauss claimed in a press launch on the time that the duo “allegedly generated and offered ‘lead lists’ of harmless people for different members of their scheme to repeatedly rip-off.” HSI Particular Agent-in-Cost Peter C. Fitzhugh posited that Shah and Smith “constructed their opulent way of life on the expense of susceptible, usually aged, working-class individuals.”
Although Shah initially pleaded not responsible to the costs and maintained her innocence on season 2 of RHOSLC, she later pleaded responsible to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in July 2022. “I knew this was mistaken. I knew many individuals had been harmed and I’m so sorry,” the truth star stated in a press release to the decide on the time, per Good Morning America.
4 months later, in November 2022, Cohen completely informed Us Weekly that he didn’t “know what to say to individuals who need her on the present … I hope that she will get no jail time in any way and she will come proper again” for season 4 of RHOSLC.
In his CNN interview, the Actual Housewives government producer clarified the context of his feedback, explaining he was requested about her “standing with the present.”
Cohen, who acknowledged to Wallace that Shah “[did something bad] and may go to jail,” added, “I believe I used to be saying, ‘Look, you already know, generally you get to know somebody and also you get to love them, you hope they don’t seem to be responsible of one thing horrible.’”
Earlier this month, Shah was sentenced to 6 and a half years in jail with 5 years of supervised launch. She should report back to jail by February 17.
