Reali-TEA Crime Stories: Bar DONE - Peter Thomas vs. Payroll

00:00:03
Speaker 1: Reality with the King is hosted by me, Carlos King. I'm an executive producer who have produced some of your favorite shows from the Real Housewives in Atlanta, New Jersey and my own creation, The Love and Marriage Franchise and Bell Collective. Every episode we recap reality television from the Real Housewives Franchise to The Bachelor or Selling Sunset, in addition to celebrity guests, whether in the unscripted space or scripted as well. All right, rain Dross, If you've been sipping with us, then you know Reality Crime Stories is where glam meets grit and the headlines always comes with the sight of hard truth. Every week, Courtney Parker and I put back the velvet robe on fame, fortune and the fallout they try to hide.

00:01:01
Speaker 2: That's right, Carlos, Everything from reality TV scandals to the crimes committed behind the cameras, whether it happens on or off the screen, Carlos and I will bring you the tea surrounding hot topic crime stories involving all of your favorite reality TV personalities.

00:01:20
Speaker 1: And if today's story taught us anything, child is that in this world the tea is never just hot, it's criminal. Courtney Parker and I are back with another episode of Reality Crime Stories. Hey Courtney, Hey Carlos So. In this episode titled from Bar One to Federal Prison Blues, Courtney Parker and I are going to get into my friend Peter Thomas, formerly of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, as you all know him as a night life impressario suffroclaimed bar boss. Unfortunately, Peter recently turned himself in due to I are as crimes where he was found guilty. I'm sorry, I think he played guilty. As we get into this, right and listen, it's it's it's very tough because I know him, but he is currently in prison. So Courtney, let's just get into what is going on with Peter Thomas. He played guilty to failing to pay over two point five million dollars in payroll taxes to the Department of Justice, receiveds showing employee withholdings allegedly redirected into luxury shopping and high rolling living. As the bar One Brent expanded from Charlotte to Miami to Baltimore, the Fed say the unpaid taxes followed, and so did a paper trail that reads like a Bravo after party God federal courtney, get into a girl. What is going on with Peter?

00:03:17
Speaker 2: Listen, The thing about Peter is he's no stranger to headlines. Like you, you led with this is your friend. You guys even tried to do a project together. You did do a project together.

00:03:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, we tried to do the bar one one Let's spin off?

00:03:35
Speaker 2: Yeah right, But you know you know him more than anyone and knows that he's no stranger to headlines, whether it's Real Housewife of Atlanta spats, ambitious bar openings, and post Bravo ventures. He's always been in the mix. But this time it's not reality drama. It's a federal conviction. We're talking trust fund taxes, which means literally taking money from employees paychecks that was supposed to go directly to the RS. According to prosecutors, Peter kept collecting it but never sent it in. And that's just not about It's bigger than just about mispayments. That's it. It's a straight up fellow me and every word that comes out of if you've ever had to endure an audit, if you've ever been one of the employees that are like, hey, you're taking all of this money out of my check and they're expecting a refund. They're not getting their refunds because this money was never sent in to the rs. So it affects. It's a ripple effect of everything, whether you're not paying your employees, whether the money that was withheld from their checks, they're not getting it back in the form of a refund. So the employees can also be in in tax you know, penalties in tax trouble. We've seen this play out in so many celebrities lives, everybody from Wesley Snipes when he had this seven million dollar tax evasion conviction, Lauren Hill when she was sentenced to for failure to pay roughly a million dollars in taxes, even Fat Joe who had nearly three million dollars in taxes. The difference is those were their taxes, that was their money. So with Peter's case, it is his employee's money that he was playing with, and it was supposed to be held in a trust for the government and the that the I r S considers this sacred money. And once you cross the line and you keep that money for yourself. Uh, it's not about blaming an accountant, it's about you're in territories that are considered federal Trust fund theft. So that's what he is dealing with right now. And it is it is bad.

00:06:30
Speaker 1: No, it's it's it's horrible. So, just so I'm clear and able to break this down to the rain drops, Peter went to jail because he failed to pay the withholding fees that a business owner, a business owner has to pay to the i RS when they have employees. Is that what? So that's basically.

00:06:58
Speaker 2: In a nutshell, your company, say it's your company or my company, money is withheld from where we claim that if you have a body of ten employees, taxes that are supposed to be withheld or taxes that are payroll that you're saying is designated. I'm going to pay my employees this amount. I'm keeping that money in a trust. I'm going to keep this money safely and securely in a trust, and I'm going to be responsible for paying the taxes. So when you send off your tax documents, whatever whatever, whatever that money is designated to pay, you're telling the IRS, I have two point five million dollars that is supposed to go towards my employee payroll. You're claiming that right, you're saying, if I made ten million dollars, two point five million dollars of that is going is I'm setting aside to pay my employees, so that you're not paying taxes on the full ten million dollars. You're actually paying taxes on what is that seven point eight million dollars, that's what you're supposed to be paying taxes on because two point five or I'm sorry, you're paying taxes on seven point five million dollars versus paying taxes on two point five million dollars because you're saying the two point five out of the ten million that's designated two point five dollars is designated to my payroll, So I'm supposed to use that money to pay my employees. Well, employees were working and saying they weren't getting their money, where is their money? And he was using their money for himself.

00:08:59
Speaker 1: Goddess God, I got it on it.

00:09:01
Speaker 2: So he was inevitably not paying taxes, not allegedly uh tax money that was supposed to be withheld for within your trust for employees payroll, he was using it for himself. They're talking from and when you have to turn in your accounting and how you spent this money. If you're allotting that, well two point five went to payroll, and whistle blowers or employees are saying you didn't. You haven't paid me anything. I haven't got paid. You're opening up all these restaurants, but you're showing up with new Louis, new Gucci, new cars, new new things with our money. That's where it got really dicey. And you have to prove what you bought. So when they audit you and go through your books, the irs does not play. When they go through your books, you have to justify by all of your spending and they can see where all your money went. So for him, it went to places that it shouldn't have and it wasn't.

00:10:12
Speaker 1: So yeah, So what is so interesting about this is when it and we'll get into the details. But obviously, you know, my audience are huge fans of the Real Housepots of Atlanta. And while Peter's on the show, and I'm sure you you've seen this to Courtney watching the show those years as well, there's always been you know, rumors and shade throwing Peter's way. You know, Phaedra and Porsche famously called bar one Bar None. They have accused Peter throughout the show of not playing his employees. They have accused Peter throughout the show, I'm not paying people in general. We all know that season three when Peter and Sempa came on the show, that they did not have any money, that they ran out of money, and how Cynthia was somebody, as a proud model since she was a teenager, spent her entire life saving money because as a model, when the getting is good, you get it because you know that the shelf life of a model sort of expires when you hit your thirties. Unfortunately, right so here she is a woman in her forties getting married for the first time and they are now both in death. Now what happened after that is bar One has been featuring the show. We were going to do a spin off of bar One Charlotte that did not get picked up by the network. When it comes to the sort of smoking mirrors of what was going on these years on the show, are you surprised by what is going on with Peter?

00:12:00
Speaker 2: No, I'm not, because it's not smoking mirrors. When you if you follow the money, you're gonna land at the truth. You know, like a lot of times these were allegations. I do think though, when allegations turn into actuality, that's what we're dealing with here. And I've gotta say this, like Peter is always gonna be connected in word and in breadth to real housewives of Atlanta Royalty, Cynthia Bailey, who I absolutely admire in all of this because when I say, no other housewives that I know of would maintain such grace and poise, even though her name gets drug in association with him. So just kudos to her for being nothing but quiet and gracious in all of them. I know she's like, ooh, I dodged a bullet. She has not given any messy interviews, she has not posted anything cryptic. She is just book busy in minding her business. So I like that. But with him, we've seen it, We've seen what comes across sometimes is his arrogance, his boss moves, his for lack of a better word, his lack of knowledge when you're over your head trying to run these businesses. So I do believe where there was smoke, there was fire, and unfortunately, by pleading guilty, you're at least owning your part in the mishap. With respect to the money.

00:13:57
Speaker 1: It's why it was been going on. So I want to give the rain drops a timeline of what's been happening. So these are all the allegations that we found based on just the public records of the core documents. So listen up, rain drops. I'll just say allegedly for the sake of saying it, Allegedly, between the years of two thousand and seventeen. In twenty twenty three, Peter allegedly failed to pay over two point five million in payroll taxes. The Department of Justice outlines over one point seven million from employee withholdings were diverted. On July second of twenty twenty four, Peter did a guilty plead. December nineteenth of twenty twenty four is when Peter was sentenced at eighteen months plus two years provides release plus two point five six million dollars in restitution the court knows luxury spending and transfers. August first of twenty twenty five is when Peter reported to Miami Federal Prison to where he is currently serving his sentence. So Courtney, this is interesting. So he's been sentenced to eighteen months in prison. He did plead guilty based on him pleading guilty because we know that some people. We talked about the Chris Lees who went to prison for the alleged accusation, the alledged crime of withholding tax as well. I'm not sure it was payroll tax. I think was just record tax. But I'll have you explain that. Okay, did Peter get it, in your opinion, a lighter sentence because he did, after all, plead guilty, whereas the other affirmission celebrities that we know from the Bravo world u pled not guilty, and when they were found guilty, their sentence did seem harsher.

00:16:18
Speaker 2: Well, we're talking about it's not tax evasion as much as fraud, tax fraud. For Peter, what's the difference, Well, again, he wasn't. They're talking When you're talking about the Chris Leeds, when you're talking about Teresa, we're talking about their money. When we're talking about Peter, he's we're talking about other people's money. We're talking about payroll. So he it's it's it's a different dynamics, same tax uh fraud, but it's different dynamics because it's one thing for me to claim I didn't get money or I got money, and I didn't necessarily say all the money that I got, it's it. I feel entitled to my money, which is a lot of times why they like the crescies pled not guilty. They were like, this is our money, we earned it. We didn't defraud all the companies that they were alleged to have defrauded. We're talking about people who were waiting on their paychecks, and Peter used the money for payroll to keep and spend on himself. It's not his money, so you know it belongs to your employees and the irs they're still on the hook for. It's a different kind of fraud. It's not just tax evasion. It's fraud you to you use my money. I still am claiming that I was supposed to make this money. I earned this money. You kept it and bought Louie every dollar in that trust fund. You were the trusted person for the trust fund for your payroll employees, and you spent that money allegedly on yourself. That's government property. That's money that should have been withheld for your employees. You pocketed it. That's what the prosecutors are. That's what he's gone to gel for. That was what the conviction was for it wasn't his money to spend. So having said all of that, that's a federal offense because you still owe restitution to not a company, you owe restitution to these people who came to work every day and never got paid. Eighteen months is not a long time, so I wouldn't necessarily call it a light sentence. But because he's it's eighteen months in federal prison, I don't know that they're shaven down that time. Fed time is really real time, like you know, I just don't know if he might have to end up serving the entire eighteen months. And then let's not forget that he got eighteen months plus two years supervised, and he still has to figure out a way to pay back the two point six y five million dollars two point five two h million dollars in restitution. So you've got eighteen months in federal prison, you've got two years supervised release, and then you still have to pay back the money you owe that you spent that should have been going to your employees. I think there was there was a person that I felt really sad for one of his employees that had been working and showing up and promised her paycheck for months on end and she just never got her. So imagine going to work every day and still not collecting your money. It's it's like crazy.

00:20:08
Speaker 1: To piggyback off of what you're saying, Courtney, which is just this is getting crazy and crazier. So Peter is currently serving time in the it's a Miami prison. It's called the federal What's hold on a second, I want to make sure I get it right. It's a federal prison. It's a federal it's called the Federal Correctional Institution in Miami. So rain drops, listen up to what allegedly happened. So they're saying that Peter allegedly withdrew two point five million dollars from its businesses, used three hundred and seventy thousand dollars for travel in real estate, and use more than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars on shopping at high end stores.

00:21:08
Speaker 2: Coney while you laugh, you can't believe baton your way out of a ledger?

00:21:14
Speaker 1: They was what that wasn't it was?

00:21:17
Speaker 2: It? I read several reports that he did several spending sprees on uh Louis vuiton that's why I keep mentioning Louis Baton he was a beeton more than Dion Sanders. Listen, listen, you can't do that because it's not your money. You have your poor little employees just trying to you know, bottoms up on their paycheck, and you they can't have it because you're spending two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. You just read those numbers. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in shopping, shopping at Target. With that money, he was at Louis and Gucci, Louie and Gucci. Every bag that he bought, everything that he bought was also part of the prosecutor's exhibits. So when you look at the court document and you see those ledgers of Exhibit A, Exhibit B, there was a lot of designer goods leave Bauton that were entered into the court's records as as part of what he spent the money on. Allegedly.

00:22:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, so Peter Thomas before, so Courtney, before Peter turned himself, not turn himself in child before I thought of right worse the yous chyld y'all know, I've been the ab dy k Williams School of Law so I'm talking of fu the right terminology. Okay, thank Kelly.

00:23:08
Speaker 2: I've gotten my law degree from Law and Order University.

00:23:12
Speaker 1: Exactly. So Peter reported to president on August first. But before he did that, Courtney Peter did have this to say on Instagram. And this is what he said, Courtney Parker, and I quote all my people told me not to post this, that I am crazy. If I do, I am not crazy, just realist. Fuck. The first thing I must say to all new business owners, please pay that withholding tax. You do not want to be in the position that I am right now. The law is the law. It's not easy for us black men, especially my industry. No bank fund, restaurant, bar loud. We have to put that shit on us. This is a new chapter in my life. It's called accountability and responsibility. He concluded accordinate by saying God bless And by the way, I didn't just found God in my time with troubles. I was raised this way. Love Peet, which is Peter Thomas.

00:24:27
Speaker 2: How do you feel about that?

00:24:30
Speaker 1: I mean, look, I will say this, I will say this obviously. I love Peter. I love Peter. I've known Peter for oh my gosh, oh my gosh, fourteen years Peter. Peter is a good guy. He's a great person. Now, with that being said, obviously Peter did something bad, and I'm not here to dispute that what Peter did is bad, right. I do appreciate Peter holding himself accountable. And look, now there are things within that quote right that I know a lot of people rightfully so would find hard to swallow as he's sort of on one hand, he's saying he's taking accountability, but I can see how people may feel like he isn't by saying it's not easy for us black men in our industry. And I want to go on records saying there's a lot of black men who own companies that are paying, they're were holding taxes. There are tons of black men in the industry who do hire accountants to figure things out when it comes to the RS. So I don't want to make this a race thing. I think what Peter did is a Peter thing. And I say that to say, Peter has been in the business for a very long time. And if the accusations are true, that the money was spent on real estate, shopping and et cetera, then you can't blame your you being a black man for that, and I love Peter, and I hope, I hope Peter did not mean in that way. I'm pretty sure when Peter watches this, he's going to call me, phone me a customing out, because that's what Peter does. And Peter, I love you. If I got it wrong, hit me up, brother, I love you. But listen, I think it's I will say this, he pled guilty.

00:26:31
Speaker 2: He did, and I will say in Peter's defense, and I know, good thing he's not tied to any real housewife now, because I always get on the hook for defending the real housewives husbands. What I believe he was trying to say, and I would agree with it is harder for black business owners to navigate through the red tape of the irs. It really is. When you have a nightlife is a high cash flow, high turnover business. Add to that multiple locations, a mix of cash and credit transactions, and the temptation to borrow money from your business for your own personal use. If you're not if you have not taken business courses, if you're so busy making the money and then spending the money and not paying attention to the expansion and having bullet proof bookkeeping. Business owners can get caught up. So I'm assuming because he did plead guilty and he just said within his own quote he got caught up. I don't think he understood the extent of it. And I will say the irs is ten times harsher on businesses for minorities then they are on businesses that are not under a micro I mean that are not under a magnifying glass. Because Peter was who he was, attention was going to be on him. He's very outspoken, he's very charismatic, and he talks a lot of shit, excuse my language. And so when you have those recipes, it could be a recipe for good, a success or a recipe for disaster. And I think had it not been for people not getting paid and him not understanding that his livelihood and how flashy he was was affecting somebody else's livelihood because they were the bartender or they were the waitress, I think because the right because those worlds are so separate. If I'm making ten dollars an hour as a waitress and I'm banking on my tips, and I'm getting my tips, but I'm not getting my payroll, my check, and I need my check then, and I'm looking at Peter who's coming in with a new pair of Gucci or Louis Waitah loafers, and I need my ten dollars. I think sometimes people who have extreme wealth or who was living the life get so caught up in the life that they forget that there are people. These people who are making a minimum amount of money need their money, so it's their money, and he's thinking, well, this is my business, so I can dip my hand over here if I need to dip my hand over there without literally understanding how strategic and how ironclad your bookkeeping needs to be, and not probably wanting to be educated enough that you're trusting somebody else with your money. When we talk about the Wesley Snipes and the Lauren Hills, people get taken advantage of by these accountants all day long. So when we start to step into a lane that you're not really well versed in, it becomes a very delicate but dangerous dance that you're you're doing. When you're like, I think I can run my business, but I'm in over my head.

00:30:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, listen, I'm with you. When it comes to the employees making minimum wage and relying on their paycheck and and not getting it. I'm with you on that month, and there's there's there's no excuse for for for that. If you are spending money buying these things the real estate as shopping, and your employees who are bartenders who oftentimes rely on tips, that's that's that's bad. It's like I say bad, there's I don't. I don't think anybody's making an excuse for him. And listen, he clearly is not making any He took the words out of my mouth. What I would like to get to, Courtney, is the fact that a lot of people assume that in these situations, once you serve your time, it's over. Explain to me how that may not always be the case, because when things fall under the guidelines of restitution, right, even when Peter serves his time, whether it's the full eighteen months or he gets out a little bit earlier due to good behavior, talk to me and explain to me. And the rain drops, Courtney, when he gets out, there's still things he has to do that's court ordered, right, he has.

00:31:54
Speaker 2: To make hold the money. So whatever the amount, and by the time you get out, whatever the restitution is if it is one point seven or if it's two point five, that money has to be paid to the people who did not receive their payroll taxes, whatever was withheld. Whatever he owes the irs, the IRS is going to get their money, So they'll get their money by way of he'll have an opportunity to either make payments towards his restitution or if he has it like that, he'll be able to just pay the restitution. Like I don't know what Peter's finances is are. We don't know that. But when he gets out of jail, whatever he has, if he was buying properties with it, they can take those properties, or he'll have the opportunity to sell those properties to make hold the restitution. It's like a bill. It's an IRS bill that they will distribute, or it's a court bill. So you you now owe in restitution to the families, the employees that need their money, and to the i r s. You can sometimes if you have a good accountant, they can make deals with the i RNs to bring that number down. If you're making if he's doing step one, which is pleading guilty, owning it and being responsible for it, there is a good chance. I would say, just based off of everything you said about Peter and everything that I've seen about Peter, there's an opportunity for him to make right if he has the money, settle this down, get this settled down to a reasonable amount that he actually can can pay. He might sell off one of the properties. They might They might give him time to earn this money. So when you you might he might approach you to say, Hey, Carlo, let's let's do a do over with respect to a show, because now I got this two point six million dollar restitution bill to make. We might want to see Peter get out of jail, but he ain't getting out of jail free. There is no get out of jee free prior there is a you have a get out of jail debt card that you have to pay.

00:34:26
Speaker 1: So all the money, whatever money he makes for the rest of his life, the moment he gets relieved, he must pay back this two point five million dollars and what and all his money will be garnished. Does it work that way, absolutely.

00:34:44
Speaker 2: Because it's the I R S. Unless he gets a pardon, uh like the Chrysalies did. Unless he gets a pardon and they excuse and eliminate that debt. He can fight it to get it either tossed out or reduced. But the reality is when it comes to the irs, especially if you pled guilty, they want their money. So unless he's sitting on millions and millions of dollars that we just don't know about, because he could get out of jail and say, hey, I'm just gonna pay it on off, he could have it like that, I don't know. But if he did, here's the question. If he did, he would have already done it. So until that debt is paid, he's going to owe it. Because you have an opportunity before the crime is committed to make this right. So this is an expensive lesson for him and understanding. And that's what happened with Wesley Snips, that's what happened with Lauren Hill. Everyone learned the expensive lesson of trusting other people with their with their money and their taxes. And what he's learned is the IRS doesn't take ile use because he was playing around with what he thought he could use as his money because it was his company, but it was entrusted to him to pay payroll taxes on behalf of his employees got it another stinoff show. He he'll be able to wipe this deck clean.

00:36:27
Speaker 1: Carlos King, I mean two point five million dollars paying that back. That's that has to be like a Love Island type of show, Baby, that big show in the land. And you know the husbands don't get paid on housewives.

00:36:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a trade secret that I don't think most people know.

00:36:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's the truth. All right, So listen, he is serving his time. He turned himself in in August first two weeks ago. Courtney, what word of advice do you have to business owners so that they won't end up in this same fate?

00:37:14
Speaker 2: I would say, don't borrow money you can't pay back, and never borrow from Uncle Sam. He doesn't forget and he definitely does not forgive.

00:37:25
Speaker 1: Good advice. No, because you know the cause you know it's a double talk, drove the whole life forgiving depth and like and forgiving the.

00:37:35
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, I got my little Kendrick mur.

00:37:42
Speaker 1: So, Sizza got it. Okay, work, but.

00:37:46
Speaker 2: No, in all true, like don't borrow money going into business. I would always also suggest it's okay to start small and stay small until you have some real understanding. I think where Peter started to get in trouble with Some people get a garner of success and then they want to expand and expand and expand. Like you're a business owner. You literally grew kingdom rain more so by morsel by morsel, until it becomes this wonderful cookie. I think when you sometimes step out of the rain the realm of what you actually know. It's hard to be the face of something too, like Peter was the face he was trying to function it. It's just just stay in your lane sometimes and understand that. Get you somebody that knows about money. As you grow, it's all a gamble, but it's worth it to either go get you, take you some classes so that you can understand basic bookkeeping. Keep your eye on it, but let somebody else who is in that lane, who has successfully been in charge of money for other businesses, handle it so that you can be unapologetically you.

00:39:20
Speaker 1: And there you have it. So in closing, that's the real reality where the bar taps close, but the consequences stay open. All right, Courtney Parker, that was a bar. Carlos King, Carlos minaj is when I go by, I am the son of Nikki NICKI said all of you, all my sons, and I say yes mother. But Courtney Parker, thank you for another one. I'll see you back next week for all new episodes of Reality Crime Story where we will die into another case that we will put to rest. Reality with the King is executive produced by me Carlos King, produced by Lizzie Nimitz, and a partnership with the Lack Effect Network. You can also find us on my YouTube channel at the Carlos King Underscore