Ex-banker, Jake Butcher, who helped bring World’s Fair to Knoxville, dies

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 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 eight banks with deposits of about $1.5 billion total 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.

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