By Jaia A. Thomas
The United States has the world’s largest prison population, with more than 2 million people behind bars. Real Housewives of Atlanta cast member Apollo Nida may soon add to that statistic.
The reality star, who is married to attorney Phaedra Parks, surrendered to Atlanta authorities last month after being charged with bank fraud and identity theft. As you may remember, this isn’t Nida’s first brush with the law. He was previously imprisoned from 2004 to 2009 for breaking federal racketeering laws related to auto title fraud.
According to a US Secret Service Agent in the Counterfeit and US Treasury Check Squad, Nida recently created several fake companies, enabling him to access databases to find individuals to rip off. In between creating and marketing the “Phine Body by Phaedra and Apollo Donkey Booty” workout video, Nida still apparently had a lot of free time on his hands to orchestrate this complex illegal scheme. And apparently Nida wasn’t working alone. Federal authorities had been investigating his co-conspirator Gayla St. Julien since 2012 (St. Julien is currently in custody). According to St. Julien, she and Nida had been working together since 2009.
Under Nida and St. Julien’s elaborate scheme, Nida would allegedly steal real people’s identities and have St. Julien pretend to be them to open bank accounts. She would then deposit fraudulent auto loan checks, stolen US treasury checks, stolen retirement checks, and checks in the name of real people that were owed unclaimed property from various state and government agencies. Authorities have located over 40 bank accounts tied between St. Julien and Nida, one account totaling $3 million. Authorities also recently confiscated Nida’s laptop computer and found more than 1,000 items of evidentiary interest, including fake driver’s licenses.
So, where do things currently stand with this case? Nida is currently out on bail (while out on bail he is also prohibited from consuming alcohol). Last week Nida appeared in court to waive his right to a preliminary hearing. A preliminary hearing is designed to determine whether or not the government has enough evidence for the case to move forward. During a preliminary hearing, the government must come forward with witnesses and information to convince a judge that there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate a crime occurred. If a defendant waives his or her preliminary hearing, they will never force the government to come forward with such evidence.
A defendant can waive the right to a preliminary hearing for a myriad of reasons. Nida could’ve waived the right to his preliminary hearing because he intends to plead guilty and wants to avoid publicity. Or, the government could’ve offered something in exchange for his waiver. It is uncertain what the motives were behind Nida’s decision to waive his right to a preliminary hearing but the case has been continued until March 25th, at which point we will have more updates.
Jaia A. Thomas is a bi-coastal sports and entertainment attorney, specializing in transactional and intellectual property matters. For more information: www.jathomaslaw.com or @jaiathomaslaw.