Nina Thomas Agrees to Fraud Plea

An agreement to plead guilty is not the plea. Nina Thomas still has to admit the conspiracy count in court, and a judge still has to accept it, before that count is a conviction. The five-year maximum and the restitution number are the terms written down. They are not a sentence.

Nina Thomas has agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and she has not entered that plea in court. She is the estranged wife of former Seattle Seahawks safety Earl Thomas. The count carries a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Kevin Thompson, her co-defendant, has agreed to plead guilty to the same conspiracy count and to possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. The cocaine count carries up to 40 years in prison and a fine of up to $5 million. The agreement makes the two of them jointly responsible for $3,497,444.64 in restitution.

A grand jury in New Orleans indicted them on Dec. 13, 2024. The charges were five counts of identity theft, three counts of money laundering, and three counts of wire fraud, and, for Thompson, possession of 500 grams or more of cocaine with intent to distribute. Those counts stay on the indictment until a judge accepts a plea.

Prosecutors say the taking started in September 2021, after Thomas filed for divorce in 2020, and that more than $2.7 million left Earl Thomas's accounts without his knowledge. Money moved through accounts opened in his name. An $885,491 NFL check was deposited at a New Orleans bank. Retirement funds were wired into an account Thompson controlled. The spending included a Hermes Birkin bag priced at $28,796 and a Porsche Panamera priced at $52,890.

All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.