Percy “Master P” Miller, CEO of New No Limit Enterprises, appears to have a financial limit. The 34-year-old mogul appeared in federal court in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to plead guilty to tax fraud charges. Miller failed to file a corporate tax return reporting first-year earnings for Bout It Inc., the company he founded in 1996 to run his hip-hop label, No Limit Records.
The tax crime carries a sentence of up to five years probation; a fine of $200,000 or twice the financial gain or loss — whichever is greater; and court costs. This comes on the heels of Miller’s record label quietly filing for bankruptcy last December and switching distributors, leaving Universal for Koch.
Just a year ago, Miller was ranked on Fortune’s “40 Richest Under 40” list with an estimated $361 million in holdings. Miller was also one of BLACK ENTERPRISE’s “Top 50 Black Power Brokers in Entertainment” (December 2002).
Nationally syndicated radio personality Tom Joyner has launched a major initiative challenging seven HBCUs to beef up efforts to raise money for scholarships. His Challenge 2004 initiative calls for each school to raise $100,000 by June 18. In return, the 5-year-old Tom Joyner Foundation will match the schools’ funds, resulting in a total gift of $200,000 to that particular school. The Foundation has raised more than $18 million and helped some 40 colleges.
May 17, 2004, will mark the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Topeka, Kansas, Board of Education. The 1954 landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court ended officially sanctioned segregation in public schools throughout the country and ultimately dismantled the Jim Crow system of American apartheid. Brown v. Board of Education launched decades of policy changes intended to improve equitable access to education resources. To learn more about the decision, visit www.brownmatters.org.