"He was also the incorporator and president of a small company, Tenn-Ford Inc., that figured in a Tennessee political scandal. Beaty and former Rep. Harold Ford Sr., a Memphis Democrat, were indicted on federal bank fraud charges in 1987 and acquitted in 1993 after two trials. The government argued unsuccessfully that Tenn-Ford was a shell company created to funnel payoffs to Ford from Tennessee bankers Jake and C.H. Butcher Jr."
There is a lot more, but the escape artistry, abeted by state political interference, has kept the family in political office, and in effective control of Shelby County, Tennessee for many years.
Like the Longs of Louisiana of years past. Is the articulate very light skinned black U.S. representative Harold Ford, Jr.?