Peter Thomas could be looking at a few years in prison. The ex-husband of Real Housewives of Atlanta star Cynthia Bailey was pinched for withholding federal taxes from his restaurant employees’ checks but never actually paying the taxes.
(Alleged) serial debtor/restaurateur Peter pleaded guilty to one felony count of failure to pay over trust fund taxes this summer. Now, prosecutors are deciding how much time Peter deserves for one chunk of his indiscretions.
Federal prosecutors in Peter Thomas’ tax fraud case: He should spend “at least” two years in prison
This summer, Peter took a plea deal after a long battle over his long-standing failure to pay the IRS. He was looking at serving up to five years. Federal prosecutors now hope he’ll be sentenced to “at least” two.
According to The Baltimore Banner, a federal prosecutor memo regarding Peter’s case aimed to justify a prison sentence. It explained, “Thomas’s flagrant violation of his federal payroll tax obligations over many years that served to unjustly enrich his companies and himself by more than $2.5 million and deprive the federal government funds used to provide important retirement and disability benefits to employees.”
Instead of paying taxes he collected from his employees, the sentencing memo alleged that Peter instead spent it on himself. Expenses included $375,000 on travel and more than $250,000 on luxury goods from Givenchy, Louis Vuitton, Neiman Marcus, and Prada.
The memo threw some shade, too. “Thomas, like most tax cheats, was motivated by greed.” It continued, “Thomas defied the tax laws, expanding his business, hiring more employees, increasing overhead and adding more business locations at the expense of his legal obligations. Americans can spend their money as they see fit, including on business ventures. However, they cannot steal other people’s money—in this case their employees’ payroll taxes—to prop up their otherwise failing business ventures.”
North Carolina court documents filed between 2017 and 2023 outline Peter’s expensive missteps. “Thomas caused Club One CLT, Sports ONE, Sports ONE CLT, PT Media, Bar One Miami Beach, and Bar One Baltimore to fail to pay over $2,526,131.99 in employment taxes, including more than $1,740,000 in trust fund taxes from the wages of his employees.”
Looks like Real Housewives of Potomac star Wendy Osefo dodged a bullet by not opening a Nigerian lounge with Papa Smurf!
The Real Housewives of Atlanta is streaming on Peacock.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK PETER WILL SPEND AT LEAST TWO YEARS IN PRISON?
