Former “Real Housewives of Atlanta” castmember and Cynthia Bailey’s ex-husband, Peter Thomas, is once again a free man.
Thomas, 65, was released from federal custody at FCI Miami and is currently on house arrest at the Miami Residential Reentry Management Office, according to TMZ and the Bureau of Prisons.
Following his release, Thomas jumped to his Instagram account to show off his new living arrangements while dancing to T.I.’s “Let ‘Em Know,” which, despite his current beef with 50 Cent, has emerged as one of the early hit songs of 2026.
It was the first post on the account since last October, when Thomas celebrated his daughter’s release of her first book.
In December 2024, Thomas pled guilty to one count of failure to pay trust fund taxes. He allegedly owed the Internal Revenue Service trust fund taxes on around $650,000 in wages from the employees of his Charlotte, North Carolina, restaurant. He was sentenced to 18 months at FCI Miami and ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution, but it appears that after a little more than seven months and with presumed good behavior, Thomas is one step closer to putting this chapter behind him.
After being released from house arrest, he still has to serve two years of probation and is ordered to stay away from excessive drinking and any drugs.
“Pay your payroll before you pay your rent, because the landlord can evict you. You ain’t gonna go to jail, though,” he told his followers on Instagram before his sentencing. “But you will go to jail for not paying your payroll taxes with the United States government.”
Thomas and Bailey finalized their divorce in 2017 after six years of marriage. Thomas said he felt “blindsided” by the divorce, telling Wendy Williams that he and his ex-wife were separated for months and that he had no idea that separation would ultimately lead to the dissolution of their marriage.
“We were separated for about five or six months. I think I’ve only seen Cynthia once – because I’m in Charlotte and she’s in Atlanta,” Peter told Wendy in 2020.
When asked if he ever embezzled money from her, Thomas flatly denied the allegation. “Never, never, never.”
