Figure in Massive Bank Failure Begins 20-Year Prison Term
Former Tennessee banker Jake Butcher, a prolific embezzler who caused the third-largest bank failure in U.S. history, surrendered Tuesday at the Atlanta federal prison to serve a 20-year sentence for conspiracy, bank fraud and income tax evasion.
Under court order, the financier, who twice ran for governor of Tennessee and who helped bring a World’s Fair to his hometown of Knoxville in 1982, may not apply for parole before May, 1992.
After Butcher, 49, reported to the minimum-security prison camp in Atlanta, Assistant Warden Bill Noonan said, he was strip-searched, photographed, fingerprinted and issued a khaki Army surplus uniform.
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