Updated at 7:08 p.m.
A high-powered investment manager in Portland is on administrative leave after news reports chronicled a long history of domestic violence allegations made by a series of ex-wives and significant others.
Over 15 years, four women claimed they were stalked or abused by Douglas E. Greenberg, a Morgan Stanley wealth adviser. The claims were included in a lengthy story published Wednesday by The New York Times.
Traci Williams, who filed for divorce from Greenberg in 2013, made some of the first allegations in a series of Facebook posts in 2015. Portland lawyer Sean Riddell said he is preparing to file a claim on Williams' behalf against Morgan Stanley, which he suspects knew about Greenberg's history and did little.
"The key questions are what did Morgan Stanley know and when did they know it," Riddell said. Greenberg "used computers, phones and other company assets to harass, stalk and abuse my client."
Greenberg could not be reached. Calls and emails to his attorney were not returned. George Kane, head of Morgan Stanley's local office, refused to comment.
It's a #MeToo moment for Portland's small, insular financial services industry and for Lake Oswego, the wealthy suburb where Greenberg and the four alleged victims were from. The Times report makes the case that Morgan Stanley knew about Greenberg's history and did little beyond send an investigator out to Portland to check out the claims.
Greenberg managed tens of millions of dollars for Morgan Stanley. His clients included wealthy former Nike managers and some of the largest corporations in the area. Morgan Stanley is the largest stock brokerage in the city with 180 employees.
He ran the Greenberg Group, a three-person operation within Morgan Stanley specializing in serving clients that "have had considerable success in their professional lives."
But along with Greenberg's business success came failed marriages and allegations of violence. Four women in Lake Oswego have sought restraining orders against him. All were either ex-wives or girlfriends, and none work for Morgan Stanley.
"He threatened to burn down my house with me in it," one woman wrote in her application for a restraining order, The Times reported. "I don't know what he's going to do next," a second wrote. "He choked me so hard it left a mark on my throat," wrote another.
Morgan Stanley received a federal subpoena related to one abuse allegation, a lawyer for one of the women told The Times. Another time, a bank manager alerted his supervisor when Greenberg was charged with violating a restraining order, The Times said, citing three former employees. Another manager at the firm liked and replied to a Facebook post by one of Greenberg's ex-wives in which she described his abuse. On another occasion, an official from the bank's New York headquarters flew to Portland to investigate, two former employees told the newspaper.
Despite this information, Morgan Stanley apparently took no action against Greenberg, who is in the top 2 percent of brokers at the firm by revenue produced. Last month, he made a Forbes list of Oregon's top wealth managers, The Times reported.
Morgan Stanley placed Greenberg on administrative leave pending a review, The Times reported. Reached by The Times this week, Greenberg said he had no comment. "It's interesting that a reporter from New York would somehow have all this information just on her own," he said.
-- Jeff Manning