CLINTON, Tenn. (AP) - Jake Butcher, who helped bring the Word's Fair to Knoxville before his family's East Tennessee banking network collapsed amid a federal investigation, has died. He was 81.
Holley-Gamble Funeral Home Director Perry Dupree confirmed that Butcher died Wednesday morning.
Media report Butcher and his brother, C.H. Butcher Jr., built their father's banking business in Clinton into a multi-million-dollar financial network that included United American Bank. Federal agents padlocked the doors of the bank in 1983 and ultimately a slew of banks with deposits that totaled more than $1 billion failed.
The brothers pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy and bank fraud and both served time in prison before being paroled.
C.H. Butcher died in 2002.