Craig Spence

Craig Spence was a Washington D.C. lobbyist, social figure, and self-described Japan specialist who maintained unusual access to senior government officials and the White House during the 1980s. He was identified in June 1989 as a major client of a homosexual escort service under investigation. His activities were documented in extensive contemporaneous reporting by the Washington Times and Washington Post, independent of victim testimony in the Franklin Credit Union Scandal. He was found dead at the Boston Ritz Carlton on November 10, 1989.¹

Career and Washington Connections

Spence described himself as a consultant on Japan and East Asia and had cultivated a reputation as a highly connected Washington social host whose parties attracted senior government officials, journalists, and foreign policy figures. The specific nature and institutional basis of his access was never fully established publicly. The Washington Post's July 1989 reporting described an unusual ability to arrange access in Washington circles that exceeded what his formal consulting work would typically support.¹

Escort Service Investigation and White House Tours

On June 29, 1989, the Washington Times published an investigation by reporters Michael Hedges and Jerry Seper documenting that Spence had been identified as a major client of a homosexual escort service that had come under federal investigation. The same reporting documented that Spence had arranged late-night White House tours for associates. The Times specifically documented a 1 a.m. tour on Sunday, July 3, 1988, at which two male prostitutes were present. This tour, and the presence of the escort service clients, was confirmed by multiple sources in the Times reporting and subsequently addressed in Washington Post coverage.¹

The Washington Post published a profile of Spence's social world on July 18, 1989 ("The Shadow World of Craig Spence"), and a follow-up on August 1, 1989 ("The Bombshell That Didn't Explode"), both documenting his political connections and unexplained access without resolving how he had obtained it.¹

Connection to Lawrence King Jr.

The Washington Times also connected Spence to Lawrence King Jr., the Omaha credit union operator at the center of the Franklin Credit Union Scandal, reporting that the two men maintained overlapping social networks in Washington. The nature and extent of their relationship was not fully documented beyond this contemporaneous reporting. Spence's name appeared in victim testimony in the Franklin case; the contemporaneous independent journalism on Spence corroborates his existence, his White House access, and his escort service connections, but not the specific events described by Franklin victims.¹

Death

Spence was found dead in Room 429 of the Boston Ritz Carlton Hotel on November 10, 1989. The death was ruled a suicide. He had been under intensifying press scrutiny for the preceding five months and had given a series of cryptic statements to journalists that suggested awareness of further exposure. In a July 1989 statement to the Washington Times he said: "All this will be over in a few months. I'll be out of here or I'll be dead." UPI archived the contemporaneous death report.¹