Andy Cohen Reveals What He Found 'Stunning' from Jen Shah Case, Teases 'Excellent' New RHOSLC Casting (2024)

Andy Cohen is sharing his candid thoughts after Jen Shah was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison for her role in a telemarketing scheme.

The Watch What Happens Live host, 54, admitted that Shah, 49, going to prison was a "big loss" for The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.

Cohen also gave his take on how Shah's victims might have been taken in by the scheme. "Listen, any old person or anyone who just doesn't really understand what's going on with the internet or how many scams are going on, people are susceptible to stuff like this," he said on Monday's episode of Sirius XM's Radio Andy. "If you read the victim impact report, it was pretty stunning."

The television personality added that he wants to interview Shah before her prison sentence begins in February, specifying, "I'm hoping to go talk to Jen this weekend. I'm hopeful that I can do that sit down with her in front of some cameras and deliver that to you. I'm really hoping to do that."

Cohen also teased RHOSL's "great casting" for next season after fans' questioned if Shah would still be featured on the show.

"I got so many tweets from people saying this has been such an interesting period where she's been waiting to be sentenced and people have been saying to me, 'Well, is she on the show or not?' I'm like, 'Do you understand that this woman is being sentenced to jail on January 6th?'" he explained. "They're not gonna give her no time. So you tell me, is she on the show? Like, what do you want me to say about whether she's on the show? She's going to serve her time. So you tell me, is she on the show or not? I don't understand what people want me to say…. It seems like the judge figured it out for us, didn't he?"

Cohen added that plans to move forward without Shah are already in the works.

"We have excellent casting for next season," he teased. "I'm feeling good. But I am saying it is a loss. It's a loss to lose her from the show."

Following her sentencing last week, Shah's attorney Priya Chaudhry issued a statement to PEOPLE after the decision: "Jen Shah deeply regrets the mistakes that she has made and is profoundly sorry to the people she has hurt. Jen has faith in our justice system, understands that anyone who breaks the law will be punished, and accepts this sentence as just. Jen will pay her debt to society and when she is a free woman again, she vows to pay her debt to the victims harmed by her mistakes."

Shah was initially arrested in March 2021 alongside assistant Stuart Smith for targeting people in a nationwide phone scam to defraud those over the age of 55. She was then charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Though Smith entered a guilty plea in November 2021, Shah continued to proclaim her innocence and even entered a not guilty plea in April 2021 before ultimately switching her plea to guilty last summer.

RELATED VIDEO: RHOSLC Star Jen Shah Pleads Guilty to Fraud and Money Laundering Charges

Court documents obtained by PEOPLE showed victim impact statements for Shah's alleged wrongdoings. One man said he "wasted about $40,000 trying to do good for my family," while another said they paid $100,000. Two of the victims who gave statements said the scam drove them to homelessness.

Chaudhry told PEOPLE: "Ms. Shah is devastated by the suffering she has caused these people. She vows to dedicate her life to trying to make each one whole."

While Shah did film some episodes of RHOSLC between her arrest and sentencing, she revealed on Instagram why she wouldn't be present for the show's season 3 reunion. She alleged in the post that Bravo found it "unsatisfactory" that she was not willing to discuss the ongoing legal troubles.

"That expectation has no regard for me or my family's well-being; so under legal advice, I will not be attending the reunion," she wrote at the tijme. "I need to focus on the important thing in my life — my family."

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The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.