Phaedra Parks of The Real Housewives of Atlanta had a new reality invade her TV life this week when she learned her husband Apollo Nida was charged with bank fraud and identity theft. Nida appeared before the U.S. District Court on Thursday.

According to the court website, a U.S. Secret Service Agent in the Counterfeit and U.S. Treasury Check Squad named Alexandre Herrera claimed that Apollo Nida created fake companies as a means of stealing from individuals by opening bank accounts using these people’s real names. Nida was identified by Gayla St. Julien, who reportedly has been under arrest since September for the same cache of criminal activities. Apollo Nida has been released on bail.

Phaedra Parks and Apollo Nida have starred in The Real Housewives of Atlanta since 2009, and welcomed their second son into the world this past May. Parks–an attorney–just learned about a month before this baby was born that she will soon be getting her on TV spinoff show about her legal career. Now that her husband has been charged with these crimes, people are likely wondering a couple of things about Phaedra. Was she in on it? Was she aware of what her husband was doing? Or does this mean she’ll seek to sever ties with him since his arrest? Not many clients will be thrilled to know that their attorney is married to someone who both defrauded banks and stole people’s identities. Of course in the world of reality TV there are no doubt excuses for everything that goes on. Maybe Phaedra Parks is using that old “innocent until proven guilty” rule. Does that still apply?

Phaedra Parks represented Bobby Brown during his assault trial in 2004, when he was accused of assault his then-wife, the late Whitney Houston. She has represented other celebrity clients as well. Certainly she can’t represent Apollo–but she likely knows someone who can.

Will Apollo Nida’s arrest play itself out on The Real Housewives of Atlanta or are their gag orders on using real criminal cases on reality TV shows? Can’t you just imagine how that would boost ratings?

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