UPDATE -- Apollo Nida, husband of "Real Housewives of Atlanta" co-star Phaedra
Parks, is headed to prison for eight years on fraud charges.
Nida, who appears on the
reality TV series with Parks, was arrested in January and pleaded guilty
in May to charges in a fraud scheme that federal prosecutors say stole
millions of dollars from at least 50 people over four years.
A hearing on July 17 will determine how much restitution Nida must pay to his victims.
Nida, 35, must serve five
years under parole supervision after he completes his eight years in a
federal prison, U.S. District Court Judge Charles A. Pannell, Jr.
ordered during sentencing Tuesday.
It will be the second
prison stint for Nida, who previously served five years in a federal
prison for auto title fraud before marrying Parks in 2009.
Nida created two fake
collection companies to gather personal information used to steal
victims' identities, U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said after his
sentencing in Atlanta. He used the information to get fraudulent auto
loans in the names of his victims, according to the criminal complaint.
"Today's sentencing
exemplifies impartial justice regardless of economic class or perceived
celebrity status," U.S. Secret Service Special Agent Reginald Moore
said. "Nida's sentence should be an eye-opener for other like-minded
criminals who scheme to steal victims' identities, defraud them and
ignore the consequences of their actions."
The break in the case
came in September, when federal investigators arrested Gayla St. Julein,
a woman who "described herself as Nida's 'right hand b****' in
executing the legwork of his fraud schemes," the complaint said.
St. Julien, who
previously served prison time for identity theft, told agents that Nida
"only paid her 'scraps'" for her work, compared to the amount of money
he made from the fraud schemes," the filing said.
She turned on him and agreed to let agents record their phone calls, it said.
Nida "knowingly and
willfully (did) execute and attempt to execute a scheme to defraud
federally insured financial institutions by depositing stolen and
fraudulently obtained checks and fraudulently obtained auto loan
proceeds into bank accounts opened in the stolen identities of real
persons, and conspire with others to do so, and knowingly convert to his
use and the use of others stolen and fraudulently obtained United
States Treasury Checks," Special Agent Alexandre Herrera said in a sworn
affidavit.
Nida's fake companies
fraudulently signed up with "LexisNexis, Equifax, and Mircrobilt
databases" to steal personal information on people.
Along with the
fraudulent auto loan checks, Nida stole U.S. Treasury checks,
"retirement checks issued to Delta Airlines employees, and checks in the
names of real people that were owed unclaimed property from various
state and federal government agencies," the complaint said.
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Agents recorded phone
calls St. Julien made to Nida during which he discussed details of
pending fraudulent auto loans and "details of future auto loan checks
that he was expecting to receive any day now from in the mail," the
affidavit said.
Nida and his wife Phaedra Parks convicted of cashing stolen checks, laundering more
than $2 million dollars through phony bank accounts.
Nida and his wife of several years Phaedra Parks (who is also a cast member of the Real Housewives Of Atlanta)
were reportedly convicted of cashing stolen checks, laundering more
than $2 million dollars through phony bank accounts. Due to spousal
privilege, Phaedra was granted immunity in testifying against her
husband. It was reported that Nida begged a judge to lower his sentencing.
His lawyer was quoted as saying, "Mr. Nida’s lengthy but early
small-time criminal history is simply not in the same league as the
“violent offenders, drug kingpins and perpetrators of far more serious
offenses” that Criminal History Category V was designed to address.”
