The Unreal Housewife: Ep. 2, I'm Making Money on Every Click

Previously on Queen of the Con.

Thank god Jenshaw ended up being a con artist, because she really helped to put Salt Lake on the map.

Real Housewives star Jen Shaw goes from an ugly duckling childhood to radiant swandam in high school.

We were at an assembly and out came this tiny Polynesian girl with this beautiful long hair, and when she danced, everybody went crazy. We couldn't get enough of her.

And years later neither could Bravo viewers until her public fall from Grace on national television. What's going on.

I've just got a phone call on strath staying years in the hospital. He has internal bleeding, so I need to go.

That phone call she got, was that someone on her side quote unquote trying to warn her?

I think she was absolutely getting warned because we know they were en route to the parking lot because they show up there so lya thereafter.

We're looking for Jen Saw.

She just like, wow, they have like swat team stuff.

What the heck. Jenshaw is ultimately arrested and charged with masterminding an elaborate scam that cost victims millions of dollars, and her former employees are not surprised. Would you call her a con artist?

I would just call her a con She's not very much of an artist.

I'm Jonathan Walton and this is Queen of the con The Unreal Housewife Episode two. I'm making money on every clique. Love the hair, dude, Wow, I like the swoop.

I'll thank you.

Coha Johnson is a fashion designer who really looks like a fashion designer. He's got angular features, an eclectic wardrobe, and a bleach blonde and pink mane whimsically framing his face, bobbing and bouncing as he talks to me about his most infamous client, Jen Shaw, and her three season stint on Bravo's Real Housewives of Salt Lake City that he had a front row seat to because whenever you'd see gen Shaw freaking out in a fancy dress.

Where's this person?

Whitney shut the up?

It was always a CoA Johnson original.

I would design customy me specifically for her, and I would source everything and I would get all the fabrics, notions, crystals, feathers, feeds, all that fun stuff.

I'm posting some of the dresses CoA designed and created for Jenshaw at Queen of the Khan on Instagram, so you can see how spectacular they are. They really look like gowns you'd see Jennifer Aniston or Halle Berry wearing at the Oscars. You're a talented guy.

Thank you.

I can't even fathom how you design a dress and then you would sew it.

Yeah, So I would create, We would come up with a design together. We would collaborate on the log I would start sourcing all the fabrics and then I would drink the fabrics, cut it out and make the pattern and everything, do fittings with her, so it myself, refit, resellt with the zipper and and call it a day.

You know, from start to finish.

And how did you lend that job with Jenshaw? How did you meet her? How did it happen?

So from the get go I met her in March of twenty twenty, right before the pandemic started. A friend of mine, he was designing for her at the time, and reached out to me in Hawaii. I was visiting my parents in Hawaii and he said, Hey, I'm working for a housewife for the Royal Housewives of Salt Lake City, the newest franchise and filming with her for season one. I would love for you to come over for like a month to kind of like help start her clothing line.

A month, but CoA ended up staying for nearly a year, and over the course of his tenure as Jen's personal designer and stylist, he got to know her really well.

It was very interesting, it was very monumental. It's very life changing.

What do you know about how Jen Shaw even got on The Real Housewives to begin with?

So it's an audition process for sure. I got to see her audition tape.

I had to work my ass off here in Utah.

I've always been at least fifty round a month.

I heard she spent a fortune on an audition tape.

She definitely spent a fortune. She bragged about a lot of the things that she would spend her money on was on there as well.

I'm telling you, was she two types of crazy?

Now?

So yeah, how she got on the show, I mean when I first met her back in March of twenty twenty, she had a very big personality, and I was told that she had a very big personality and Bravo loves that. Bravo loves especially she was a woman of color. She was Polynesian, and that's something especially in Salt Lake City, that you don't see a lot of that type of person in a very conservative state.

Did Bravo seek her out to be on the show or did she seek out the show to be on Bravo's Real Housewives.

Bravo sought her out.

So usually how it worked is Bravo will seek out one person who will recommend another person who will recommend another person.

For auditioning for the show. So she was sought.

Out by Bravo and recommended by someone else on the show.

Interesting. What was it like working for Jenshaw for that year?

She was very pleasant in the beginning.

I felt I grew to love her personality, loved her family, her kids, her extended family, her mom, her brothers, her sisters. I got to know them very well, and being also Polynesian myself, in Hawaiian specifically, we just had that kind of cultural connection because we were of the same background and the culture. And I really really did love her like a sister. As things progressed and during my time with her things became very, very chaotic.

She hasn't been home since Saturday.

Toxic.

You decided to bring it to me.

Abusive that what happened when the grata.

And it ended pretty abruptly and according to Coha, as bad as Jenshaw was on camera, Yeah right, she was actually worse off camera than on correct.

Yeah, how so explain that like when she got upset, she got really upset, throwing glasses, throwing phones, breaking phones, breaking objects, and she her hats on or throw at you or any of my colleagues.

She would do that.

She would call us and just scream her head off and tell us what horrible employees we were and that we weren't doing anything.

Things got so bad for CoA and the Shaw Squad, which is what Jen called the team of people under her employ that at one point when she was going off on them for the hundredth time, someone hit record.

And you can set up fuckingmiling bitch and being a fucking bitch. You are here, you are.

There was a video that got out of her losing her shit on you and throwing things.

So that night was the night before she had to leave to New York City.

For the reunion filming.

She was coming down from being drunk. She realized that she still needs to pack. Jen was a very difficult person to get to do any task, Like she couldn't get out of bed. She would wake up at two pm at that point, like she missed her hair appointments, nail appointments. She just couldn't get out of bed or do anything. And when she was up, she was on her phone social media, distracting herself from actual responsibilities and tasks that she needs to complete.

It.

It was a very difficult situation for me because I was not only making her dresses, but I was assisting and helping her do daily tasks because she fired so many of her personal assistants.

How did you feel as you're standing there and she's just going off on you and yelling and throwing stuff.

I handled this shit, It's no not yet handle it.

So in that instance, she was upset because she was not prepared, and I was literally at.

My wits end.

I was emotionally, mentally, physically drained at that point because I've already finished her reunion gown, and by her yelling at me and screaming at me. I just kind of was numb at that point because it was not the first time that she did that to me. There were many many other it's as previous to that moment that she did, and I was just kind of like numb to the situation and her yelling Like it was just like I was just completely blank out as she's like yelling,

I mean, that was her crime. She took everything.

From these people and expected everything to be given to her.

And sid.

Who do you think recorded that video and released it?

That's a good question. I know everybody wants to say it's me. It's something to me. There were two of my other colleagues that were present there, plus Jen, plus her husband. I can't say who did it or if I know that did it, but I'm just really glad and grateful that it was put out there.

Designing dresses for Jen Shaw and having those dresses shown worldwide on the Real Housewives show was a tremendous opportunity for CoA. Johnson, It would be for any designer, but that opportunity came with a deep price.

It was a living nightmare, for sure. It was a living nightmare. For sure.

You would just be on edge the entire time, like I did so much.

I stayed up all night.

Sewing a dress for her because she needed it for tomorrow, or she needed it for some kind of event. But I always still felt on edge because she would call and just be like, nothing's ready, nothing's prepared. Her life was in shambles, She was in chaos constantly. It was a complete nightmare, and my colleagues had to go through it. Myself, A lot of the people around us had to suffer her wrath.

Looking back, did Jenshaw scam you?

Yes?

She did. Now, the scam Jenshaw pulls on Koa is not as egregious or as complicated as the elaborate scam she was pulling on thousands of people across the country, systematically bilking them out of millions of dollars.

Her crime is very complex, and I think a lot of her fans still are scratching their heads and wondering why she's sitting in jail.

Oh, we're going to get to all that. It's insane, so stay with us. But the scam Jenshaw pulls on Koha was just cruel and dehumanizing. She essentially stopped paying him for the last four months he was with her. He was living in her house designing for her full time, away from his friends in New York and away from his family in Hawaii. In a way, she tricked you into working for free.

Yeah, she did robbed me, exhausting me of all of my resources. Yeah, I was still able to perform under those circumstances. So yeah, she definitely scammed myself and a lot of my colleagues of their time and money that they deserved.

How many other people did she not pay U?

There were quite a few of us. That was my time there.

There was at least myself and not maybe five other assistants of hers.

She stiffed all of them.

Oh yeah, absolutely.

And you know, part of the scam I think is I can tell by researching you, you're a very talented, hard working designer and you take pride in what you do, so I can tell you're not even doing it for the money. So I think she uses that against you. She knows you're not doing it for the money, and she thinks I'm paying him, he'll still do it because he takes pride in his.

Work, exactly my work ethic. She saw that I was a very hard worker, and she fed off with that work ethic for sure.

She also dangled fame and recognition.

A lot of the things that we as artists as designers do rely on is exposure.

The exposure doesn't pay our bills.

Of course, there are two sides to every story, and Jen Shaw has her In season two of The Real Housewives, Jen responds to Coha's accusations he.

Took my kindness and repaid me by making it look like I mistreated him, which was.

Not the case at all. And she tells people she got rid of you because you couldn't cut it. You were no good. What's your response to that?

She was one of the biggest liars I've ever met in my entire life. I did not get fired, I did not get let go. I quit.

I sent in my resignation texts. Her husband was a part of that text message, and another colleague of mine was a part of that text message. So I did not get fired. I quit that part where she said she was nothing but nice to me. No, no, no, no, no no, no.

She was not.

I was nice. I was kind to her. She took my kindness as weakness and weaponized.

It against me.

And I realized now that she needed me more than I needed her. For sure, I don't think she would have gotten that far without what I did for her, to be.

Honest, Yeah, because on that show looks for everything dresses or everything, and you did some spectacular gown. Yeah.

I proved myself and she wouldn't admit it that what I'd done for her. Obviously, I did my job above and.

Beyond expectations, and under those circumstances, I'm more proud of myself going through abuse and being assaulted the entire time and berated the entire time, I was still able to do my job.

You might be asking yourself, why didn't CoA just leave? Why go weeks and months with no pay? Why put up with that? The answer is, of course complicated.

Jenshaw is tremendously charismatic.

That's attorney in Housewives Officionado Emily D. Baker post of The Emily Show podcast.

There are some people when you know where they're in a room and you know where they are, even if it's a lot ar full room. Jenshaw is one of those people, and you can see even when people dislike her, they forgive her. And we saw this play out on the show. It's because they want to be around her, because she's a lot of fun, and you see them forgiving the shitty things she's done over and over because they like her. And that's a type of charisma that can't be taught.

Emily actually witnessed firsthand the power of persuasion. Jenshaw wheels over everyone around her.

I was at an after party at Bravo Kan when Jenshaw crashed the party.

Bravocan is exactly like it sounds, a yearly convention for fans of the Bravo world, where stars of shows like vander Pump Rules below deck and of course the Real Housewives appear and mingle with fans. And Jenshaw showed up to the last Bravo Kan dressed to the nines and ready to mix things up.

I think she said she didn't crash the party, that she was invited, but she invited to Bravo Kahn after she fled, and she was there anyway, but she took to the dance floor. Jen's got moves. She absolutely has moves. I'm not surprised that she stood out as a superstar in high school where people wanted to be liked by her, wanted to be like her, and wanted to be kind

And that's exactly.

What sets her up for people wanting to please her in scenarios like this where they will override their own red flags because they want to be near Genshaw. They want to win her approval and they want her to like them.

That's the power of any good con artist. They get you to love them. Yes, that's their weapon.

Yes it is, and it takes people in, and it certainly took in the network execs at Bravo.

I imagine they salivated when they saw jen Shaw's casting reel.

We live in a gaety community, my husband travels a lot.

I really better with females that work.

The ones that just sit at home and don't do anything.

I don't stay well with girls like that.

I mean, she was exactly what they were looking for, an uber, wealthy, self made woman with a big personality in Mormon country. Jen Shaw was proof positive that a Real Housewives incarnation based in Salt Lake City could actually work.

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is an interesting franchise because it touches on Mormon culture, people who have left the Mormon Church, drinking, which is kind of taboo in Utah, and there's a lot of drinking on this show, and the relationships of some women who have known each other for quite a long period of time in a really small community, a very very elite part of Salt Lake society. And it's not even really Salt Lake it seems to.

Mostly be part city.

So it's a very interesting slice of life into how these women live. And I think jen knew that she wasn't going to be the nice one that kind of brought the groups together, because the most dynamic and some of the fan favorite housewives tend to be a bit polarizing. They tend to be the ones who aren't afraid to mix it up.

Here, my friend, and if everybody's done anything too, I would stack to one thousands of cents.

So she walked that line of really lashing out against people, but also being in almost every single scene of all three seasons. This was a calculated, curated persona.

What no one knew at the time was that in a lot of ways, jen Shaw tricked Bravo into casting her on their Real Housewives. She presented a life that was actually a house of cards ready to fall, and conversely, Bravo had its own spin on things coming down the pike.

Angie Harrington has left the church, Whitney has left the church. Jen has left the church all before they were on the show, So they kind of have Mormon adjacent people who at least are somewhat aware of it.

That's Scott Pierce, a TV writer for the Salt Lake Tribune. It's like Bravo's whole intention of casting Salt Lake City was to put the Mormon angle into it. But when you drill right down, there are no practicing Mormons on that show, not any.

Fully active I don't think you could actually have them because I'm not sure that you could be on Real Housewives if you don't drink. There are no I mean, I don't want to say card carrying Mormons, but active members of the church have a temple recommending can go into the temple. The only cast member at all who apparently still goes to church is Lisa.

Lisa Barlowe, the housewife with long flowing brown hair who also co owns a tequila company with her husband.

I love that, and she clearly does not have a temple recommend because she drinks, among other things.

She is not a fully active member of the church.

So a temple recommend is a certificate issued by the Church of Latter day Saints that allows a Mormon to actually enter the church and be a practicing Mormon. But a Temple recommends certificate has got to be earned. It's kind of like a college degree. It takes two years to get one, and drinking is a major disqualifier.

Heather kind of sorta was in when it started.

Heather Gay, the blonde who owns beauty Labin laser.

But she has all together left and the other ones who were Mormon aren't anymore and weren't when the show started.

Salt Lake City is kind of a small town, so much so that years before Scott Pearce was writing about Jen Shaw and the Housewives for The Tribune, she actually lived on his block.

She did used to live a couple durs down from me. Quite a number of years ago. A couple of our kids played together.

My primary memory is Jen and Sharif coming over, and I'm sure it was at Sharif's instigation, just to introduce themselves because the kids were playing. You know, her older son and my son were playing together, and she didn't say a whole lot.

Jarif did most of the talking.

She is so outspoken and vocal. It's hard to imagine her in that situation not saying a lot.

I have nothing negative to say about that. It's just when they announced the cast, I went, well, that's unusual.

I think.

What a lot of people don't realize who don't live here, is that Cherif has a much.

Bigger name than Jen. You know, he was a star football player at the University of Utah. He's been a coach for many years, so his name was familiar. Hers was not.

But that all changed quick thanks to Housewives. Back when you were writing about Jen Shaw, when she was on the show, What was your understanding of what she did for a living to make all that money.

I didn't get it.

I knew that it was something with online marketing, and I will admit that when it started I didn't worry about it too much. We didn't really see her working much. I didn't really give it a whole lot of thought, which doesn't reflect well on me. I guess for not being more curious about that. But I never understood it, and even when she would explain it on the show, I still didn't understand it.

I mean, I can tell you I've been investigating con artists for five years now, and that is one of the signs of a con. They're vague, right about how the money comes in, where the money comes from. It's vague. It's this, it's that. And maybe she tells different people different stories, but the fact that she could never clearly explain it. You're an educated guy. If you didn't get it, I sure as heck didn't get it.

I guess we could say that Real Housewives has performed somewhat of a public service because I never thought of this stuff before, and now I'm more aware of it.

And as you say, the vagueness. When I look back at.

It now, it's like, well that, as you say, that's a sign I was not aware of that before.

I'm guessing that there are other people who were not.

Aware of that. For the record, this is what Jenshaw said publicly about how she makes her money back in twenty twenty on Access Hollywood's Housewives Nightcap.

It's funny because a lot of the ladies are like, oh my god, where does gen get all their money? And I think part of it is like here in Utah, the ladies are like, oh my gosh, how does the brown girl and the black husband have all this money?

Because that's you know what I mean.

They're like, that's weird.

No, it's not weird.

I own three different marketing companies and we do lead generation data monetization. The best way to describe it is I'm the Wizard of Oz. I'm like the one behind the curtain that nobody knows exists, but I'm the one making everything happen. So when ads are popping to you, guys, when you're like, how the hell do they know I'm shopping at Neiman Marcus, that's me. And if you think about it, you know how much traffic is on the internet every second, all the people clicking. I'm making money

What Genshaw exhibits is what every con artist exhibits. They make their scam so complex and hard to follow and ideally removed from themselves that they're hard to prosecute. They're hard to lay out for a jury because if you confuse a jury, you're not going to get a conviction. They're just gonna be like, oh, that's reasonable doubt, you know, not guilty.

She had a background in telemarketing.

That's Zach Peter again, a man who spent time with almost every Housewife and the Bravo universe on his No Filter with Zach Peter podcast. He studied the way Jenshaw rose up in the telemarketing ranks and.

Kind of built her way up in that channel of you know, calling up people and saying, hey, is your student loan? Do you owe student loan debt? And so she learned the trick of the trade, and then eventually, it seems she continued to build upon that until she

When I was eighteen years old, I got a job in telemarketing. You know, this is before I started waiting tables, before I did singing telegrams. That's a whole lot of story. And I couldn't do it longer than a week. I quit because have you ever worked telemarketing? Now, it's a hard effing job. You have a computer monitor with your script, and based on what the person tells you is what button you pressed to read like you're just a thankless drone reading what you're told. And then you have to

All I know about telemarketing is those are the people I hang up on.

Yeah, I mean now me too. It's a tough road to hoe.

But I think that's why somebody like Genshaw was able to make it profitable is because she ended up targeting vulnerable people, people that you know you can essentially con.

And the extent of her conning, the complexity and how long it went on is something that took the FEDS years to fully untangle.

It was awful what she did to those people.

It really was.

She turned up their lives for what a fake Fendi bag. Congrats girl.

Next time on Queen of the Con.

The operators they pump you for information.

They we dissect the kinds of scammy telemarketing calls Jenshaw used to build seniors out of millions.

What happens if I don't make good money at this.

At the end of thirty days, if you have not returned on your vet Nick, we will give you a refund back.

I think what Jenshaw was leaning into is this is just marketing. Okay, so we're lying in our marketing practices, but that's not WIREFID. You don't go to prison for that.

Queen of the Con The Unreal Housewife is a production of AYR Media and iHeartMedia, hosted by me Jonathan Walton. Executive producers Jonathan Walton for Jonathan Alton Productions and Elisa Rosen for AYR Media. Written by Jonathan Walton, Segment producer Gregory Harvey, Senior Associate producer Jill Pshesnik, Coordinator Melena Krolyevsky. Sound design by Tim Mulhern, Edited and mixed by Tim Mulhern. Supervising producer Victoria Chang, Audio engineer Justin Mongerbean studio engineer