Well, folks, it looks like Barbara Furlow-Smiles, a former manager at Facebook and Nike, got herself into a bit of trouble. I mean, we’re talking serious trouble here. This lady has been sentenced to over five years in prison for embezzling more than $5 million from these two powerhouse companies. Can you believe it?
Barbara was living the high life, working at some of the biggest companies in the world. I bet she thought she was untouchable. But, as they say, what goes up must come down. And boy, did Barbara come crashing down hard.
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Barbara Furlow-Smiles, 38, served as Lead Strategist, Global Head of Employee Resource Groups and Diversity Engagement at Facebook from about January 2017 to September 2021.
During that time, she swiped more than $4.9 million from the social media giant to ‘fund a luxury lifestyle in California, Georgia, and Oregon,’ said the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
‘Furlow-Smiles shamelessly violated her position of trust as a DEI executive at Facebook to steal millions from the company utilizing a scheme involving fraudulent vendors, fake invoices, and cash kickbacks,’ US Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said.
After she was terminated from Facebook, she got hired at Nike as a diversity, equity and inclusion leader, only to start up a nearly identical scheme.
Furlow-Smiles stole more than $121,000 from Nike.
She managed to swindle Facebook, now Meta, by being a trusted member of their staff who had access to company credit cards.
The former diversity executive 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 were never provided to Facebook.
She covered her tracks by submitting fake expense reports, claiming that her associates worked on programs or events for Facebook when that was all bogus.
The other facet of her fraud was bring on vendors whom she was personally connected with to purportedly do work for Facebook.
Furlow-Smiles would approve fake invoices from the vendors, and once Facebook paid them, she directed the vendors to send her a portion of the money they received.
The so-called vendors included Furlow-Smiles’ friends, relatives, interns from a former job, nannies and babysitters, a hair stylist, and even her university tutor.
It’s not clear if any of these people will face charges.
With Facebook’s money, she also paid upwards of $10,000 to an artist for specialty portraits and more than $18,000 to a preschool for tuition.
Once these individuals received payment from Facebook, they’d send Furlow-Smiles the money back so she could pocket it. They would either electronically send the money to her or her husband’s bank accounts or send her cash wrapped in t-shirts.
It isn’t clear if Furlow-Smiles was let go from Facebook because of this fraud, but during her tenure at Nike from November 2021 to February 2023, she got right back to work getting herself kickbacks through accomplices.
‘She carelessly continued her fraudulent schemes at Nike, thinking she was untouchable. As a result, she not only threw away a lucrative career, but will serve time behind bars for her excessive greed,’ FBI Special Agent Keri Farley said.
I mean, just imagine the audacity it takes to embezzle that much money from not one, but two major corporations. That’s some serious nerve right there. But in the end, crime doesn’t pay, and Barbara is learning that the hard way.
So, the next time you’re tempted to bend the rules a little bit, just remember Barbara Furlow-Smiles. It’s not worth it, folks. Play by the rules and keep your nose clean. Trust me, it’s a lot better than spending five years in prison.
Flip to the next page for some photos of Barbara Furlow-Smiles…
