On December 19, 2024 “Real Housewives of Atlanta’ star Peter Thomas, 63, was sentenced to 18 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release for a tax offense for several of his nightclubs and restaurants in Charlotte, Miami, and Baltimore. Peter is the ex husband of Cynthia Bailey, she played on the tv show Real Housewives of Atlanta. Follow Charlotte Alerts on Instagram.
Peter was the owner of Club One CLT, LLC, Sports ONE, Inc., Sports ONE CLT LLC, and PT Media, LLC, which operated as sports themed bar/restaurant/lounges in Charlotte.
Peter also owned several other bars, restaurants, and lounges in Florida and Maryland, including Bar One Miami Beach LLC and Bar One Baltimore LLC.
Between 2017 and 2022, Peter caused the Charlotte businesses to collect more than $640,000 in trust fund taxes from the wages of their employees, but Peter did not pay over these taxes to the IRS.
In addition, between 2021 and 2023, Peter caused Bar One Miami Beach LLC and Bar One Baltimore LLC to collect more than $1.1 million in trust fund taxes from the wages of their employees, but Peter did not pay over these taxes to the IRS.
In total, between 2017 and 2023, Peter caused the Charlotte businesses, Bar One Miami Beach LLC, and Bar One Baltimore LLC to fail to pay over more than $2.5 million in employment taxes, including more than $1,740,000 in trust fund taxes from the wages of their employees.
Instead of paying the trust fund taxes that were due on behalf of the Charlotte businesses, Peter used the trust fund taxes for other purposes, including more than $2.5 million in cash withdrawals, $370,000 for travel, real estate purchases, and more than $250,000 in retail purchases, including on high end purchases at Neiman Marcus, Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Givenchy.
Peter also caused more than $2.9 million to be transferred between the Charlotte businesses, Bar One Miami Beach, LLC, and Bar One Baltimore, LLC.
Peter was arrested in 2023. On July 2, 2024, Peter pleaded guilty to failing to account for and pay over trust fund taxes. In December 2024 Peter was sentenced to 18 months in prison and he was also ordered to pay $2,526,131.99 as restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
