RHOA Alum Peter Thomas Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud, Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison

"All young business owner, please learn for my mistake," Thomas wrote in an Instagram post ahead of his sentencing

A verdict on Peter Thomas' tax fraud case has been reached.

On Thursday, Dec. 18, the former Real Housewives of Atlanta star, 64, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to tax fraud, per The Neighborhood Talk.

Following his sentence, Thomas, who is the ex-husband of Cynthia Bailey, will undergo two years of supervised release and pay $2.5 million in restitution.

PEOPLE has reached out to Thomas' lawyer for comment.

Thomas' sentencing comes after The Baltimore Banner reported that a federal prosecutor memo regarding his case aimed to justify a prison sentence on Dec. 10.

Thomas, owner of Bar One restaurants, was accused of failing to pay employment taxes for his businesses and instead spent just under $375,000 on travel and ride-sharing services as well as $250,000 on luxury goods from Neiman Marcus, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy and more.

“Thomas’s flagrant violation of his federal payroll tax obligations over many years that served to unjustly enrich his companies and himself by more than $2.5 million and deprive the federal government funds used to provide important retirement and disability benefits to employees," the memo reportedly read.

Per the outlet, the sentencing memo stated that the entrepreneur was "motivated by greed," adding that “Thomas defied the tax laws, expanding his business, hiring more employees, increasing overhead and adding more business locations at the expense of his legal obligations."

In the summer, Thomas also pled guilty to failing to pay trust fund taxes after he was accused of evading taxes for several of his businesses between 2017 to 2023.

One day before receiving his sentence, the former reality star shared a message regarding his decision to plead guilty in a video shared on Instagram.

"I'll be making an appearance in the United States government federal courthouse here in Charlotte, North Carolina, to face the music," he told his followers. "The music of ... consistently withholding taxes for [my] businesses [for] over 10 years."

"I thought it was something that I could rectify by getting on that payment plan and paying it. But it doesn't work like that," he added.

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In his caption, Thomas told other small business owners to learn from his mistakes.

"Public announcement, most people are confused when it come to paying withholding taxes, I am here to set the record straight, yes you will go to jail, [yes] you still have to pay the taxes," he wrote. "Also, jail don’t mean that the taxes is forgiven. All young business owner, please learn for my mistake."