Another “Real Housewives of Atlanta” cast member has been swept up in the drama surrounding the arrest of Phaedra Parks’ husband, Apollo Nida, on multiple counts of fraud and identity theft.
Over the weekend, her co-star Cynthia Bailey denied new reports that her husband, Nida’s friend Peter Thomas, was also part of the alleged scam.
“I can’t speak on Apollo, but I can say that Peter Thomas doesn’t have anything to do with a bank fraud scandal to my knowledge,” Bailey told Jet magazine. “The feds are not sitting outside of our house. That is just not accurate information …”
Thomas himself claimed to be blindsided when news of Nida’s arrest hit the web. “I don’t know nothing about it,” he told Sister 2 Sister at the time. “I have absolutely no comment on his arrest.”
“I just have to wait, like everyone else, to see how it plays out,” he continued. “I hope that everything will play out in the best form.”
Radar Online says it researched filings with the Georgia Secretary of State, and found that Thomas and Nida had no official business links.
Apollo has been accused of overseeing a scam in which he created fake companies to collect individuals’ personal information, then used the false info to open fraudulent bank accounts, to which he deposited stolen checks.
He was arrested on January 23 and released the following day on a bail of $25,000, with strict conditions that prohibit him from drinking alcohol or leaving the Atlanta area unsupervised.
Adding insult to injury, Radar is also reporting that Apollo chose to spend the night of Valentine’s Day away from his wife — partying with other women.
Around 10:30 p.m. on Valentine’s Day, Nida tweeted, “I’m here, Columbia SC Let’s Go!!! Palace 2,” referring to a popular nightclub in the South Carolina capital. And according to comments on his post, that wasn’t his only stop.
“Thanks had a great night chilling with u and bro at palace and mobay [restaurant and bar],” a pretty brunette, @audigirl33 wrote on his page the next day.
Another brunette, @rachelraad wrote, “think I saw u at urban nirvana spa today while I was at Starbucks … Too bad you weren’t with Phaedra but that other woman :/”
Nida posed for the above photos with one Columbia native, Instagram user @luv_nicole.
“Apollo was so nice …” she bragged on a pic posted Saturday morning, that showed her leg wrapped around the RHOA star. “idk why he tried to pick me up tho.”
At 1:44 am on Saturday morning, she tweeted, “Apollo fine [as f**k] in person.”
Meanwhile, Nida’s wife Parks was miles away in New Orleans, preparing for a series of book signings for her advice guide Secrets of the Southern Belle.
