In addition to the catfights often seen on the hit Bravo reality TV series "The Real Housewives of Atlanta," another scandal that created quite a buzz last season on "RHOA" is Apollo Nida's bank fraud charges.

Following last season's "RHOA" finale, Nida pleaded guilty to bank fraud for an illegal operation he had been running since 2009. He is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday.

Nida and his co-conspirators developed an elaborate fraud scheme in which they stole checks reportedly from the U.S. Treasury and Delta Airlines' pension fund, laundered money, participated in identity theft and filed fraudulent tax returns.

CBS News reported when Nida pleaded guilty that the U.S. Attorney's office revealed Nida's plot stole $2.3 million and affected over 50 victims.

Nida said he did it because he was ashamed that his wife was outearning him and he wanted the lifestyle the show's other stars had. Nida later admitted that as the bank scheme grew bigger and he stole more money, he got "sucked in and engulfed and lost sight of things."

At the time of his plea, it was reported that Nida would be required to pay back $2.3 million to $4.5 million and would face up to 30 years in prison.

Despite his massive fraud setup, Nida is now hoping to lower his maximum jail time before he is sentenced.

RadarOnline reported Sunday that Nida's lawyers are requesting that the Atlanta district court change Nida's criminal history status from Criminal History Category V to Criminal History Category IV -- because his criminal past is not nearly as bad as the criminal histories of drug kingpins and violent offenders.

"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," Nida's lawyers state in their request.

Nida's criminal history includes "three probation revocations, driving under the influence and giving a false name to law enforcement, all before he turned 24," RadarOnline wrote.

Do you agree with Apollo Nida and his lawyers' attempt to change his criminal history category? Share your comments below.