Restauranteur and former reality TV star Peter Thomas should serve “at least” two years of prison time for his failure to pay millions in taxes withheld from his workers’ paychecks at his restaurants, according to a new sentencing memo from federal prosecutors.
“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” warrants the recommended sentencing, the memo states.
Thomas, who owned Bar One, the former Harbor East restaurant, is widely known for his marriage to ex-wife Cynthia Bailey, the “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star. He briefly appeared on “The Real Housewives of Potomac” last year when cast member Wendy Osefo considered opening a Nigerian lounge with Thomas in Maryland, though the project never came to fruition.
According to the court document filed in North Carolina, between 2017 and 2023, “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.”
Instead of paying the employment taxes that were due on behalf of his businesses, the sentencing memo states, Thomas spent just under $375,000 on travel and ride-sharing expenditures and over $250,000 on luxury goods from Neiman Marcus, Prada, Louis Vuitton and Givenchy, among others.
“Thomas, like most tax cheats, was motivated by greed,” the sentencing memo reads. “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.”
Thomas agreed to plead guilty in the summer to one felony count of failure to pay over trust fund taxes.
Several lawsuits remain open against Bar One in Baltimore, including ones filed by vendors and creditors.
Banner reporters Christina Track and Dylan Segelbaum contributed to this article.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the monetary amounts Peter Thomas failed to pay.
Ellie Wolfe reports on higher education at the Baltimore Banner. Raised in western Massachusetts and a proud graduate of Bates College, Ellie spent a year reporting on higher education at the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson before moving to Baltimore.
