Facebook diversity manager admits to stealing more than $4 million to fund her lavish lifestyle – including more than $18,000 to a preschool for tuition

A former global diversity manager at Facebook has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $4 million from the company.

Barbara Furlow-Smiles, 38, was chief strategist, Global Head of Employee Resource Groups and Diversity Engagement at Facebook from approximately January 2017 to September 2021.

During that time, attorneys for the The US Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Georgia said she defrauded and defrauded the company of more than $4 million.

She charged Facebook fraudulent invoices, then received kickbacks and used the money to live a luxurious lifestyle in California and Georgia.

“This defendant abused a trust's position as global diversity director for Facebook to defraud the company of millions of dollars, ignoring the insidious consequences of undermining the importance of its DEI mission,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K .Buchanan.

“Motivated by greed, she used her time to orchestrate an elaborate criminal scheme in which fraudulent salespeople paid her kickbacks in cash. She even implicated family members, friends and other associates in her crimes, all to finance a lavish lifestyle through fraud rather than through hard and honest work.”

The Furlow-Smiles scheme worked in two ways to get Facebook to pay for goods and services it never received and from which it received kickbacks.

The former diversity manager linked PayPal, Venmo and Cash App accounts to her Facebook credit cards and used those accounts to pay friends, family members and other employees for goods and services allegedly provided to Facebook.

However, these individuals have never provided goods and services to the company. To conceal the fraudulent charges, Furlow-Smile submitted false expense reports claiming that its employees provided services such as merchandise or marketing services.

Once they received payment from Facebook, her employees sent most of the money back to Furlow-Smiles, either in cash or in accounts in her or her husband's name.

To conceal the transactions, her employees sometimes wrapped the money in other items, such as T-shirts, or instructed her employees to pay each other.

She also had the company make payments for her benefits in other ways, including payments of more than $18,000 to a preschool for tuition

Furlow-Smiles also caused Facebook to onboard or provide contracts to people who paid her kickbacks, including friends, family members, former interns from a previous job, nannies and babysitters, a hairstylist and her college professor.

She also had the company make payments for her benefits in other ways, including payments of nearly $10,000 to an artist for special portraits and more than $18,000 to a preschool for tuition.

“Furlow-Smiles used lies and deception to defraud both vendors and Facebook employees,” said Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta.

“The FBI is working hard to ensure that this type of greed is not rewarded and that those who commit fraud are held accountable.”

Furlow-Smiles' sentencing is scheduled for March 19 before U.S. District Judge Steven D. Grimberg.