A former diversity program manager at Facebook and Nike has been jailed for stealing more than $5 million in a scheme involving fake vendors, made-up paperwork, and cash kickbacks.
Barbara Furlow-Smiles, 38, of Marietta, Georgia, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Steven D. Grimberg to five years and three months in prison, followed by three years’ supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $5,102,838.08 to the impacted companies, the bulk of which was to Facebook.
From January 2017 to September 2021, Furlow-Smiles led Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs at Facebook and was responsible for developing and executing DEI initiatives, operations and engagement programs. Her role at the company provided her access to company credit cards, and authority to submit purchase requisitions and approve invoices for authorized vendors of Facebook – a level of power she quickly abused.
The former DEI manager linked PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App accounts to her Facebook credit cards and used those accounts to pay friends, relatives, and other associates for goods and services that in truth were never provided to Facebook. The vast majority of the money was then returned back to Furlow-Smiles in cash.
Following her termination from Facebook, she worked as Senior Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for Nike from November 2021 to February 2023, where she was responsible for DEI initiatives including the Juneteenth event in New York.
Like her previous offences, Furlow-Smiles circumvented the vendor process at Nike to commit fraud, with expense reports falsely claiming that the payments were related to the Juneteenth event.
The 38-year-old stole almost $5million from Facebook and $121,054.50 from Nike to fund a luxurious lifestyle in California, Georgia, and Oregon.
U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said Furlow-Smiles had “shamelessly violated her position of trust as a DEI executive at Facebook to steal millions from the company”. According to Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, the social media giant put “an extreme amount of trust” in Furlow-Smiles “only to have that trust completely violated”.
