Peter Thomas of Bar One Baltimore and ‘The Real Housewives of Atlanta’ reports to federal prison ngocc

Peter Thomas, a former reality TV star who appeared on “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” and used to own a restaurant in Baltimore, has reported to federal prison to start serving an 18-month sentence for a tax crime.

Thomas, 64, now of Miami, pleaded guilty in 2024 in U.S. District Court in Charlotte, North Carolina, to one count of failure to pay over trust fund taxes. He must also spend two years on supervised release.

Between 2017 and 2023, Thomas owned several businesses, including Bar One Baltimore on Lancaster Street in Harbor East, and failed to pay more than $2.5 million in employment taxes — including more than $1.7 million that was taken out of the paychecks of his employees.

Thomas withdrew $2.5 million, used $370,000 for travel and real estate, and spent more than $250,000 on purchases at places including Neiman Marcus, Prada and Louis Vuitton, federal prosecutors reported.

In an email, Donald Murphy, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, said Thomas is now in custody at the Federal Correctional Institution, Miami.

His release date is listed online as unknown.

In 2023, Bar One Baltimore closed.

Before the restaurant shuttered, Thomas, without evidence, accused his employees of stealing, disparaged the city and insulted Black Baltimoreans.

Following his sentencing, Thomas requested and received permission to travel to Tampa, Florida, to appear at an event.

A flyer for the event featured flowers and butterflies and advertised, “Come party with Peter Thomas formerly on HOA.”

In a post on May 21 on Instagram, Thomas shared a photo of a sign pointing out the direction of the Federal Correctional Institution, Miami, and in part wrote, “The first thing I must say to all new business owner, please pay that withholding tax, you do not want to be in the position that I am right now, THE LAW IS THE LAW.”

But Thomas later recorded videos in which he sounded less than contrite.

In one video on May 28, Thomas claimed that he had it “all worked out for me to make payments.”

“As beautiful and Black and as chocolate I am, I don’t have what’s called white privilege,” Thomas said. “There’s several people that I see that tens of millions of dollars that got pardoned for the same crime, OK? But they all supporters of what he believes in: the ideology of Donald Trump.”

He said he’s not one of those people.

Thomas added that he has a “sexy-ass white beard.”

“But,” he said, “I’m not white.”