Husband of Real Housewives of Atlanta star Phaedra Parks, Apollo Nida is preparing for prison sentencing today for his guilty plea of conspiracy to commit fraud charges. Prosecutors allege that Nida created fake companies, and opened fake bank accounts to funnel stolen U.S. Treasury checks and auto loan proceeds.
The embattled personal trainer is pleading with Atlanta courts to lower his criminal history category, which would lower his maximum time in prison. Nida faced up to 30 years in prison.
“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.” said Nida’s attorneys in a July 3 statement. He’s been to prison before, admits his attorneys, but they believe the charges aren’t serious enough to warrant a category 5 classification.
Nida has been cited for three probation revocations, driving under the influence, and giving a false name to law enforcement, but all of that occurred before he turned 24 years old.
For the last two days, the 35 year old has been spending time alone as he prepares for sentencing while wife Phaedra is vacationing in Mexico with friends, including singer Fantasia and Kandi Burress.
It’s not clear whether the court will approve his request at this time.
UPDATE: Nida was sentenced to 8 years in federal prison. The judge cited Nida’s cooperation with authorities for the lenient sentence.