He was caught up in what was known as the Butcher Brothers Banking failures. Ford Sr was charged with bank fraud. He was one of the few involved who wasn't convicted. he banks were United American and a S&L called Southern Industrial Banking Corp. The S&L was uninsured. The banks were ran by two brothers Jake and C.H. Butcher. They basically were making bad loans to shell companies and shifting the paperwork between banks. A lot of people lost life savings in the S&L. Much of the loss came from the 1982 Worlds Fair as well. Greed was the rule in the whole venture and it was a major flop.
Lamar Alexander was governor at the time. Alexander has his own questionable dealings especially during his post governor times. Between the Worlds Fair and a project with a magazine giant Knoxville taxpayers were left with a huge debt.
Thanks for the information!