Apollo Nida’s co-conspirator Gayla St. Julien, who received a 5-year sentence for her involvement in an identity theft and bank fraud scheme, alleges Phaedra Parks knew all about her husband’s illegal activities.
Gayla’s currently serving time for her part in the crime ring, but spoke exclusively to MadameNoire about Apollo’s sentencing, whether or not he snitched to get a reduced sentence, and Phaedra’s involvement.
Here’s what she had to say:
HER FEELINGS ABOUT APOLLO BEING SENTENCED TO EIGHT YEARS:
“My thoughts and prayers do go out to Apollo and his family. Going through something like this, it’s very devastating for our families, and it’s also devastating for the victims that we have. As far as I’m concerned, the judicial system is severely flawed. He did get a 5K1 just like I did (providing assistance to help prosecute others in order to get a lesser sentence). When this situation first arose last September, he basically gave me his a** to kiss. When he gave me his a** to kiss, I took matters in my own hands. I’m not going to do time for a person who’s not going to support me. He completely turned his back on me. The difference between me and him is that his 5K1 is based on a lot of dry snitching. He told on a lot of people who didn’t have anything to do with our situation. I told on him. There was no way I’m going to pay for $2.5 million by myself. The time you get is equated to the amount of money you stole.”
ON REPORTS THAT HE “SNITCHED” TO GET 8 YEARS:
“He did not help the government. He said that he was helping the government and repaid some of the money by doing awareness speeches and all of that–that was bulls**t. He turned evidence on people who were higher up than him. That’s the only way he got eight years out of 30. Period. End of story. Everything I said was made public after I was sentenced. And everything he has said will be made public, and everyone will know that you snitched.”
WHY SHE GOT INVOLVED WITH NIDA:
“I was arrested September 11, 2013. It’s been very difficult. I have a daughter who got a liver transplant some years back and that’s initially how I got involved in this with Apollo. My daughter’s medicine was $3,000 a month. Medicaid was no longer willing to pay for the medicine, and while they kept rejecting us and rejecting us and rejecting us, she was deteriorating without the medicine. So I got back into this for my daughter. If I had to do it all over again, I don’t know what I would do. I’m a mother. I’m a mother first.”
HOW SHE’S COPING WITH HER SENTENCE:
“My husband, two weeks after I got here, of course, he wanted a divorce. That’s another issue. So it’s a struggle. It’s very hard. The issues with my husband, that’s going to play out, and it’ll probably play out publicly as well. But I’m just trying to take it one day at a time. I have a beautiful son and he’s autistic, so that’s a financial strain on my parents, so it’s hard. I think the thing that irks me is that, of course they’re public figures, but everyone has been so concerned about Ayden and Mr. President–and of course I love Ayden, I’ve never met the little baby, but as far as Ayden is concerned, I spent some time with him and I’m fond of him. I care about children. But nobody really gave a damn about my circumstances or my children. I feel like I have not been given fair treatment. It’s been bias. At the end of the day, he’s just as guilty as I am. And I’ve paid from day one. I’ve lost everything.”
WHY SHE BELIEVES PHAEDRA SHOULD STAY WITH NIDA:
“Well, let me tell you like this. Spouses? When one party is legitimate to a degree, and the other isn’t, there’s NO secret about it. If you reap the benefit, or get things and money and all the things that come with a lifestyle such as what we had, then I think you should ride with him. But it’s not a secret. Everybody knows that she knew, just like my husband knew. There were benefits that had been reaped and so if you go into a marriage and you know what a person is involved in, and you say ‘Okay, I can deal with it,’ and you take the diamonds, you take the trips, you take the bikes, you take the whatevers–then you take the time too. That should be the way it is. She knew what she was getting into just like my husband knew what he was getting into. If you’re getting into a situation where you don’t know what a person is about, then okay if you feel like you need to walk away, then you walk away. It’s understandable. But if your cards were laid out on the table and you knew the risks involved, and yet you decided you wanted to roll with those risks, then you roll with those risks. Period. She knew. Period. End of story. We’ll just leave it at that.
Do you believe Phaedra was aware of Apollo’s illegal dealings? As intelligent of a woman as Phaedra is, we find it hard to believe that she didn’t know anything.
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