Real Housewives of Atlanta alum Peter Thomas is expressing gratitude after he was sentenced to 18 months in his federal tax evasion case.
Shortly after a judge in North Carolina handed down the sentence on Thursday, Dec. 19, Thomas posted a video statement on Instagram.
He thanked his attorney for doing an “incredible job,” and said both the prosecutor and judge in the case were “fair.”
“The outcome, I am grateful [for] and I am going to remain grateful,” Thomas said. “They’re allowing me to get some of my business affairs done before I have to turn myself in. It’s not as bad as what I’m looking at on social media, at all. Again, I’m thanking those people, because those people were beyond nice and those people were beyond fair.”
Related: Peter Thomas Expresses ‘Regret’ Amid Tax Troubles
Thomas had faced up to 30 months in prison, Charlotte news station WCNC-TV reported. So, he did get a lot less time.
Earlier on Thursday, the judge in the case told Thomas his fate for failing to pay more than $2.5 million in employment taxes for his businesses in three states, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina.
After serving his sentence, Thomas must spend two years on supervised release and pay the IRS $2,526,131.99 in restitution.
His sentencing came after the former reality star pleaded guilty in July to one count of failure to pay trust fund taxes on behalf of employees of his PT Media, LLC between 2017 and 2023.
Thomas was previously married to RHOA star Cynthia Bailey, and appeared alongside his then-wife on the Bravo series.
After leaving reality TV behind, the entrepreneur ran restaurants in Charlotte, Miami, and Baltimore.
The government said Thomas collected millions of dollars in trust fund taxes from his employees’ wages.
Instead of turning the funds over to the IRS, prosecutors said he used the money for “other” purposes, including “$2.5 million in cash withdrawals, $370,000 for travel… and more than $250,000 in retail purchases, including on high-end purchases at Neiman Marcus, Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Givenchy.”
As his legal troubles mounted, Thomas released a video in June 2024 expressing “regret” for failing to settle up with the government. In the video, which was reposted by The Neighborhood Talk, he admitted breaking federal tax laws.
“I did some wrong that I have to make right. I have to stand up, I have to be accountable, I have to be responsible, and I have to pay my debt,” he stated.
Thomas then offered advice to other small business owners.
“If you’re starting out a business, make sure that you’re funded enough… make sure that you can cover those withholding taxes,” he said.
Thomas concluded by warning if “Uncle Sam is not getting their piece… it’s gonna come and it’s gonna bite you like it’s biting me now.”
