Rep. Ford, Two More Acquitted in Fraud Trial

Rep. Harold E. Ford (D-Tenn.) and two co-defendants were found not guilty on all counts Friday in a federal bank and mail-fraud case that had raised racial tensions here.

Ford, 47, the state’s only black congressman, had been accused of accepting bribes from local business executives. He said the money represented an investment in his family funeral parlor business. And he contended that he had been a victim of racial persecution.

Ford brought his left hand to his face and sat quietly in his chair as the jury returned the verdict. Supporters cheered before U.S. District Judge Jerome Turner admonished them and issued an unusual rebuke over the activities of some black activists.

Some black ministers had threatened to petition the National Football League to drop Memphis as a candidate for a football franchise. The judge said he was “astounded at the way some people were willing to disrupt the economic viability of this city.”

Black leaders had also criticized the racial makeup of the jury, which had 11 white members and one black.

Fears of racial violence had prompted the city to put the police on alert.

It was the second trial for the powerful Democrat on the federal charges of conspiracy, bank fraud and mail fraud. The first trial in 1990 had ended in a hung jury.

Ford had been accused of accepting $1.2 million in fraudulent bank loans from 1976 to 1982, with no intention of repayment, from the defunct banking empire of Jake and C. H. Butcher.

U.S. Atty. Dan Clancy contended that Ford, a ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, was a politician who sold his power for money.

Defense attorney William McDaniels countered that “it makes no sense” that Ford would accept bribes that were recorded on bank books as loans.

The congressman testified that the money was originally an investment by Butcher but was changed to a loan without his knowledge.

The co-defendants were former Butcher lawyers Douglas Beaty and Karl Schledwitz.