A erstwhile DEI brag astatine Facebook and Nike got deed with much than 5 years successful situation aft she pleaded blameworthy successful December to stealing implicit $5 cardinal from some corporations.
Barbara Furlow-Smiles, 38, served arsenic Lead Strategist, Global Head of Employee Resource Groups and Diversity Engagement astatine Facebook from astir January 2017 to September 2021.
During that time, she swiped more than $4.9 cardinal from the societal media giant to 'fund a luxury manner successful California, Georgia, and Oregon,' said the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
'Furlow-Smiles shamelessly violated her presumption of spot arsenic a DEI enforcement astatine Facebook to bargain millions from the institution utilizing a strategy involving fraudulent vendors, fake invoices, and currency kickbacks,' US Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said.
After she was terminated from Facebook, she got hired astatine Nike arsenic a diversity, equity and inclusion leader, lone to commencement up a astir identical scheme.
Former diverseness enforcement astatine Facebook and Nike, Barbara Furlow-Smiles (pictured), was sentenced to 5 years and 3 months successful situation for stealing much than $4.9 cardinal from Facebook and implicit $121,000 from Nike
Furlow-Smiles stole much than $121,000 from Nike.
She managed to swindle Facebook, present Meta, by being a trusted subordinate of their unit who had entree to institution recognition cards.
The erstwhile diverseness enforcement linked PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App accounts to her Facebook recognition cards and utilized those accounts to wage friends, relatives, and different associates for goods and services that were ne'er provided to Facebook.
She covered her tracks by submitting fake disbursal reports, claiming that her associates worked connected programs oregon events for Facebook erstwhile that was each bogus.
The different facet of her fraud was bring connected vendors whom she was personally connected with to purportedly bash enactment for Facebook.
Furlow-Smiles would o.k. fake invoices from the vendors, and erstwhile Facebook paid them, she directed the vendors to nonstop her a information of the wealth they received.
The alleged vendors included Furlow-Smiles' friends, relatives, interns from a erstwhile job, nannies and babysitters, a hairsbreadth stylist, and adjacent her assemblage tutor.
It's not wide if immoderate of these radical volition look charges.
With Facebook's money, she besides paid upwards of $10,000 to an creator for specialty portraits and much than $18,000 to a preschool for tuition.
She besides got the institution to marque payments for her benefits successful different ways including payments of much than $18,000 to a preschool for tuition
Once these individuals received outgo from Facebook, they'd send Furlow-Smiles the wealth backmost truthful she could pouch it. They would either electronically nonstop the wealth to her oregon her husband's slope accounts oregon nonstop her currency wrapped successful t-shirts.
It isn't wide if Furlow-Smiles was fto spell from Facebook due to the fact that of this fraud, but during her tenure astatine Nike from November 2021 to February 2023, she got close backmost to enactment getting herself kickbacks done accomplices.
'She carelessly continued her fraudulent schemes astatine Nike, reasoning she was untouchable. As a result, she not lone threw distant a lucrative career, but volition service clip down bars for her excessive greed,' FBI Special Agent Keri Farley said.
Furlow-Smiles volition walk 5 years and 3 months successful prison, arsenic good arsenic 3 years of supervised release.
She's besides been ordered to wage backmost some Facebook and Nike.
English (US) ·