(January 3, 2007, Washington, D.C.) – When Deborah Gramiccioni, Assistant Chief of the Fraud Section, Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, addressed the first annual Women in International Regulatory Law (WIRL) Symposium sponsored by TRACE International in April, she saw the future.
Her own.
TRACE International President Alexandra Wrage named Ms. Gramiccioni the organization’s Vice President for Corporate Compliance, effective January 2007. “Many of our member companies are trying to sort out exactly what the Department of Justice expects of them,” said Ms. Wrage. “Although Deb will no longer speak on behalf of the Department, she has years of extraordinary experience with and insights about the DOJ that will be invaluable to our organization and its members. We are confident she will add fresh, in-depth perspectives from the prosecutorial side of the table to TRACE International’s business transparency, anti-bribery and anti-corruption initiatives.”
In her role as Chief of the Commercial Crime Unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of New Jersey and later as Assistant Chief in the DOJ’s Fraud Section in Washington, DC, Ms. Gramiccioni had significant responsibility for the prosecution of bribery cases under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Her prior experience also includes several years in the U.S. Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions (public corruption) Division, where she prosecuted bribery, extortion and tax crimes committed by high-level public officials.
Ms. Gramiccioni views her new position as one that will allow her to be proactive in reducing international bribery and corrupt business practices. “I look forward to the opportunity of educating current and potential TRACE members about preventing business corruption and bribery in international business transactions,” she said. “There is a tremendous opportunity to engage companies who aren’t yet aware of the how TRACE can help them avoid violations of the FCPA. I look forward to using my knowledge of prosecuting such violators to help existing TRACE members steer clear of corrupt business practices, as well as spread the news to companies who are not yet aware of the organization’s international business resources.”
A magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Gramiccioni received her law degree from the University of Virginia. She will be based in TRACE International’s northern New Jersey office, where she will have primary responsibility for the organization’s pharma and financial services sectors. She is expected to be active as a TRACE spokesperson, as well as in new member recruitment and training.
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TRACE is a non-profit membership association that pools resources to provide practical and cost-effective anti-bribery compliance solutions for multinational companies and their commercial intermediaries. TRACE provides several core services and products, including: due diligence reports on commercial intermediaries; model compliance policies; an online Resource Center with foreign local law summaries, including guidelines on gifts and hospitality; in-person and online anti-bribery training; and research on corporate best practices. For more information, visit www.traceinternational.org.
