Peter Thomas Case Details

Peter Thomas is once again facing legal trouble regarding his business ventures. Popular for his role in The Real Housewives of Atlanta from Season 3, Thomas has been a focal point of financial scrutiny. His newest restaurant, Bar One Baltimore, situated in the prominent East Harbor area of Baltimore, Maryland, has now closed after less than a year. This comes after prior restaurant failures in Atlanta, Miami, and Charlotte. Now, The Baltimore Banner reports that Thomas has pleaded guilty to a $2.5 million federal tax case.

Before the closure of Bar One Baltimore, Thomas attributed the restaurant’s issues to his employees, accusing them of stealing money. However, court documents have revealed a different story. It was found that Thomas failed to pay over $2.5 million in employment taxes that were withheld from his workers’ paychecks in Baltimore and other locations.

In U.S. District Court in Charlotte, North Carolina, Thomas pleaded guilty to one felony count of failure to pay over trust fund taxes. He operated the now-shuttered nightclub ClubONE and the eatery Sports One Bar and Lounge in Charlotte.

Reports indicate that Thomas collected over $640,000 in income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes from employees’ paychecks at his Charlotte restaurants between 2017 and 2022. Instead of remitting the taxes to the IRS, Thomas allegedly used these funds for personal expenses, including cash withdrawals, travel, and real estate. Additionally, he collected more than $1.1 million in taxes from employee wages at Bar One Miami Beach and Bar One Baltimore between 2021 and 2023, which he also failed to pay to the IRS.

In a 2023 interview with The Baltimore Banner, Thomas confessed to redistributing money from his various restaurants to keep Bar One Baltimore afloat. He candidly remarked, “We have to borrow from Paul to pay Peter.”

Thomas now faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release. The specific terms of his plea deal have not been disclosed.