Paul Bonacci

Paul Bonacci was a central witness in the Franklin Credit Union Scandal proceedings who alleged that Lawrence King Jr. had transported him from Omaha to Washington D.C. beginning around 1981, when Bonacci was approximately fourteen years old, for parties where child abuse occurred. His attorney throughout legal proceedings from the early 1990s through the 1999 civil judgment was John DeCamp, who simultaneously wrote "The Franklin Cover-Up" (1992) while representing him.

Criminal Proceedings

Bonacci was convicted on three counts of child sexual assault in a matter separate from the Franklin allegations. He was indicted for perjury during the Franklin grand jury proceedings but those charges were not ultimately prosecuted to conviction.¹

During the Nebraska Legislature's Franklin Committee investigation (1989-1990), he provided videotaped testimony to investigator Gary Caradori. These interviews are partially available at the Internet Archive (archive.org/details/GaryCaradoriInterviewsOfFranklinScandalVictims). He also testified before the Douglas County grand jury and the federal grand jury, both of which convened in 1990 and concluded the abuse allegations were unsubstantiated.¹

Civil Judgment

Bonacci filed a federal civil complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska against King and others including Peter Citron, Alan Baer, Harold Anderson, and Robert Wadman. King declined to respond to the complaint. On approximately February 27, 1999, Senior U.S. District Judge Warren K. Urbom entered a default judgment against King of $800,000 in compensatory damages and $200,000 in punitive damages ($1 million total). Urbom's order stated that King's failure to respond "has made those allegations true as to him." This is a procedural default judgment under federal civil rules rather than a contested judicial determination on the merits; the court did not evaluate the underlying allegations against evidence. The record is at CourtListener opinion 582386; the appellate record is at 962 F.2d 12.²

Specific Washington D.C. Allegations

Bonacci's testimony described King maintaining a house on Embassy Row in Washington and arranging parties where child abuse occurred. He alleged that Washington lobbyist Craig Spence arranged late-night White House tours attended by himself and King, including tours beginning at approximately 1 a.m. The Craig Spence element has partial independent corroboration: Washington Times reporting from June 29, 1989 independently documented that Spence had arranged a 1 a.m. White House tour on July 3, 1988, at which two male prostitutes were present. This is corroborated independent of Bonacci's testimony. Bonacci's claim to have personally attended such tours is not independently corroborated in any public record, and King's alleged Embassy Row house is not established in any documented source beyond Bonacci's own testimony.³