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Things seem to be going well for RHOA star Cynthia Bailey, as she is returning to the show as a friend of for season 16. However, this isn’t the case for her ex-husband Peter Thomas.
The former Atlanta husband recently revealed that he’s facing years in prison over unpaid taxes related to his several restaurant and nightclub businesses.
Anyone who follows Peter, 63, will know that this isn’t the first time he’s had issues with his businesses. In the recent past, he has been accused of not paying employees and, in general, not being the most astute businessman. Recently, the landlord for one of the Bar One restaurants sued Peter for unpaid rent and various fees. He was ordered to pay $9 million.
Now, In Touch Weekly has obtained court documents that show that Peter failed to pay the proper taxes between 2017 and 2022. However, the story gets worse. The taxes Peter decided not to pay were trust fund taxes from the wages of his employees. According to the documents, the former RHOA star collected an excess of $640,000 from his employees but didn’t turn it over to the IRS.
The court filing also says that he collected about $1.1 million in trust fund taxes from employees at Bar One Miami Beach and Bar One Baltimore locations but failed to pay it to Uncle Sam. Overall, between 2017 and 2023, the businessman failed to pay $2.5 million in employee taxes.
Allegedly, instead of paying the taxes, Peter used the money for purposes such as “cash withdrawals, travel, real estate purchases, and retail purchases.”
Peter has one count of “failure to pay trust fund taxes.” He could face up to five years in prison for this. There’s also the possibility of a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
You can see Peter’s statement in the following video, where he states that he and his attorney have been working on the case for over two years, and apologizes for his actions.
Are you surprised to hear that Peter is facing prison time? Not only has he had these issues since the divorce from Cynthia, but RHOA fans saw some of his questionable business practices play out on the show.
