‘Real Housewives’ alum Peter Thomas sentenced to prison for 18 months
Peter Thomas, former husband of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” castmate Cynthia Bailey, has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for evading $2.5 million in taxes.
Thomas was married to Bailey from 2010 and 2017 and lived in Atlanta for many years. He has been running bars, restaurants, clubs and lounges for the past three-plus decades.
Thomas, 64, this past summer pleaded guilty to one count of failure to pay trust fund taxes. He was previously accused of failing to pay employment taxes between 2017 and 2023 for multiple businesses in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Miami.
His wedding to Bailey was captured by “Real Housewives” cameras on Bravo along with many of their ups and downs as a married couple for multiple seasons. He ran Grant Park’s Bar One Tapas Lounge for three years until 2014. His effort to open another one in the Old Fourth Ward ultimately fell through.
In 2019, Thomas was arrested at Miami International Airport on a fugitive warrant for writing fraudulent checks and spent six days in jail.
Before his sentencing, Thomas posted a video on Instagram advising entrepreneurs to learn from his mistakes, saying he was willing to “face the music” for “consistently withholding taxes for business over 10 years.”
“With my plea of guilty,” Thomas added, “I have to sit down for a while.”
About the Author
Rodney Ho writes about entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution including TV, radio, film, comedy and all things in between. A native New Yorker, he has covered education at The Virginian-Pilot, small business for The Wall Street Journal and a host of beats at the AJC over 20-plus years. He loves tennis, pop culture & seeing live events.
