A former DEI boss at Facebook and Nike was sentenced to more than five years in prison after pleading guilty in December to stealing more than $5 million from both companies.
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, she stole more than $4.9 million from the social media giant to “fund a lavish lifestyle in California, Georgia and Oregon.” said the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
“Furlow-Smiles brazenly violated her position of trust as Facebook’s DEI manager by stealing millions from the company through a scheme that involved fraudulent vendors, false invoices, and kickbacks,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan.
After being fired from Facebook, she was hired at Nike as a diversity, equity and inclusion leader and went on to create a nearly identical plan.
Former diversity manager at Facebook and Nike, Barbara Furlow-Smiles (pictured), was sentenced to five years and three months in prison for stealing more than $4.9 million from Facebook and more than $121,000 from Nike
Furlow-Smiles stole more than $121,000 from Nike.
She managed to defraud Facebook, now Meta, by being a trusted member of their staff who had access to company credit cards.
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 that were never provided to Facebook.
She covered her tracks by submitting false expense reports and claiming that her employees worked on programs or events for Facebook when it was all fake.
The other facet of her fraud involved enlisting vendors with whom she was personally connected to allegedly do work for Facebook.
Furlow-Smiles approved fake invoices from the suppliers, and once Facebook paid them, she instructed the suppliers to send her a portion of the money received.
The so-called sellers included Furlow-Smiles’ friends, family members, interns from a former job, nannies and babysitters, a hairstylist and even her college professor.
It is not clear whether these people will be charged.
With Facebook’s money, she also paid more than $10,000 to an artist for special portraits and more than $18,000 to a preschool for tuition.
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
Once these individuals received payment from Facebook, they sent Furlow-Smiles the money back for her to pocket. They sent the money electronically to her or her husband’s bank accounts, or sent her cash wrapped in T-shirts.
It’s unclear whether Furlow-Smiles was fired from Facebook because of this fraud, but during her tenure at Nike from November 2021 to February 2023, she immediately went back to work to obtain kickbacks through accomplices.
“She carelessly continued her fraudulent schemes at Nike, thinking she was untouchable. As a result, she has not only squandered a lucrative career, but will also spend time behind bars for her excessive greed,” said FBI Special Agent Keri Farley.
Furlow-Smiles will spend five years and three months in prison, as well as three years of supervised release.
She must also pay back both Facebook and Nike.