3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, APRIL 2, 2018
Williams: Gearhart woman on national stage after abuse revelations
Continued from Page 1A
Williams first reported the
abuse in 2013. “Most peo-
ple said: ‘Traci, you need to
give it up,’” she said. She
also reported it multiple times
again in 2014 and 2015.
The Times story was orig-
inally supposed to be more
about the #MeToo movement
and banking in general, Wil-
liams said.
“But when the reporter
came and dug in, they decided
to narrow it down and focus
on him (Greenberg), because
the story was compelling in
terms of the facts. It’s all doc-
umented. I thought, maybe if
I tell people, maybe I can get
some of my sanity back.”
After the account went
viral, Williams closed her shop
on Thursday for the day to deal
with the fallout. She’s received
nonstop media calls since the
story appeared, she said.
“This is an ugly story,” Wil-
liams said Friday. “This is not
how I wanted to be defined.
But it’s what I’ve been living.
It’s why I’m edgy and jumpy
and why my son has PTSD and
I have PTSD. I am changed
forever.”
‘Perfect neighborhood’
Williams met Greenberg on
a blind date in 2007. She was
a public relations go-getter and
he an all-star at Morgan Stanley
in Portland.
“He seemed really nice
and fun, like he had his act
together,” she said. “He took
me to his office on our third
date.”
They married in 2008,
blended families and lived
a seemingly storybook life
among the wealthy and the
well-heeled of Lake Oswego,
but the reality was anything but.
In the five years of their
marriage, Williams “was
choked, smothered, shoved,
pinched and pinned down” by
Greenberg, she said. She stayed
because he would apologize,
promise to get help, and there
were periods that life was fun.
That is the cycle of abuse she
learned more about after she
got away.
The Daily Astorian
Material sent to Traci Williams, including blood and cat hair.
Greenberg escalated his
erratic behavior, she said,
while maintaining a high-flying
career as an executive director
and wealth adviser at Morgan
Stanley.
Greenberg’s rage extended
to her own children and pets,
she said. She knew it would
be hard to leave the marriage,
“but I didn’t know how hard it
would be.”
Greenberg’s prominence
provided him a free pass. As
a “big fish,” he became even
more abusive.
“Lake Oswego, it was the
perfect little neighborhood,”
Williams said. “No one wanted
to speak up because no one
wants to get involved. There’s
this illusion that everything is
perfect and pretty.”
After five years, she made
the decision to leave. “He was
going to kill me and described
in detail how to my face.”
Williams consulted an attor-
ney, who advised her to leave
Lake Oswego for good. She hid
out with her children and dog
along the Oregon and Wash-
ington coasts. They were on the
run for almost a month before
returning to Portland.
“All that time he (Green-
berg) was freaking out, call-
ing and calling and calling and
screaming, threatening, knock-
ing on my friends’ doors.”
Threats, fines
Greenberg violated civil
restraining orders meant to
protect Williams 14 times,
according to police reports and
court documents.
“I think the fines got to be
$120,000 because every time
he violated it, he didn’t care,
they would just add on a fine,”
Williams said.
Greenberg was so threat-
ening, she fled her house more
than 10 times in a six-month
period, Williams said. She
would receive threatening let-
ters, messages, emails and
calls, including one reading “I
CAN SEE YOU,” made up of
letters cut out from magazines.
“When a picture of my dog
arrived in the mail, police said,
‘We think you should leave,’”
she added. “They told me not
to let the dog out in the yard.”
She filed complaints with
Morgan Stanley management
in Portland and San Francisco
without response.
“By propping up some-
one and continuing to promote
them, what they’ve done is
enable him to collect more vic-
tims,” she said.
A new life
After leaving Greenberg,
Williams tried to rebuild her
life and a career in Portland,
joining a startup tech firm as
their head of public relations.
After attending classes and
a workshop, she started volun-
teering as an advocate for sur-
vivors of domestic violence and
was appointed in 2014 to the
governor’s domestic violence
task force. Ironically, she said,
she couldn’t prevent her own
abuse.
In 2015, everyone at her
new company was sent threat-
ening email from an anony-
mous account using an alias.
“I felt like I lost every single
thing,” Williams said. “All my
sanity, all my peace of mind,
my personal health really took
a beating, my ability to move
around, and to have a sense of
freedom.”
She became the person
“shunned in the grocery store,”
she said.
Before that, she was
friendly and outgoing, the one
who hosted the dinner par-
ties, helped run the auctions
and head committees. “Then
I rarely got invited anywhere.
I lost a lot of friends. Every-
body wants to hear your story
once and then they say, ‘We’d
rather not.’ And I have friends
who are afraid Doug might do
something to them.”
The alleged stalking and
harassment continued.
Investigators told Williams
they were able to track a 2015
“creepy serial-killer letter” sent
to Williams to a Morgan Stan-
ley credit card account accessi-
ble by Greenberg. “But Doug
was crafty and hard to pin
down,” she said.
Portland police pursued
the case for about six months
before the federal government
was contacted, she said.
She took safety and gun
training courses.
After a trip to Gearhart in
2016, she decided to reshape
her life. “I just thought, ‘What
do I have to lose?’”
“A girlfriend invited me to
her brother’s beach house in
Gearhart, and my friend said,
‘You should buy the old Pop’s
and turn it into a wine bar.’”
So she did, hoping the plan
might be the “perfect out.” Just
in case, she installed nine video
cameras around the perimeter.
Her remaining friends have
been a supportive group, help-
ing her start a business that
wasn’t what she was trained for
or expecting.
“One of my friends from
Lake Oswego got me up and
running with the wine and
beer part,” she said. “Oth-
ers helped me learn ice cream,
merchandising. New friends
here in Gearhart have been
really embracing of me and my
family.”
Looking ahead
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last week was Greenberg
put on administrative leave.
Greenberg is still tweet-
ing from his Morgan Stanley
account, Williams said.
She still suffers from “con-
stant fear,” although “a little
less” after the Times story.
Williams has hired Portland
attorney Sean Riddell and is
“exploring all my legal options
at this point.”
The Oregon Coast remains
her safe haven.
“Gearhart is my little get-
away. Yesterday I walked the
beach for two hours. It’s fun
for me when kids come in (to
the shop), and I have a distrac-
tion. The buzz in here is good
and fun and I think that is a
good thing for me.”
Requests for comment by
The Daily Astorian to Morgan
Stanley and Greenberg were
not answered.
Morgan Stanley spokes-
woman Christy Jockle told
the Times: “We are commit-
ted to maintaining a safe and
professional work environ-
ment and will take appropriate
action based on the facts of the
matter.”
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