Barbara Furlow-Smiles, a former diversity program manager for Facebook and Nike, was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay back over $5 million that she stole from the companies. She set up fake business deals, invoices, and events to line her own pockets, including a Juneteenth celebration. Furlow-Smiles pleaded guilty to a wire fraud scheme that saw her take more than $4.9 million from Facebook and another six-figure sum from Nike to fund a luxurious lifestyle in California, Georgia, and Oregon.
Prosecutors stated that from January 2017 to September 2021, Furlow-Smiles led diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at Facebook, using her access to company credit cards and her power to approve invoices to pay individuals for goods and services that were never provided. These individuals, including her friends and relatives, would funnel kickbacks to her without realizing the funds were from Facebook. She also misled Facebook into sending money to entities that did not provide kickbacks, submitting fake expense reports to cover her tracks.
After being fired from Facebook, Furlow-Smiles continued her fraudulent schemes at Nike, where she served as the senior director of DEI. She organized a Juneteenth event for the company and followed a similar process as at Facebook, paying her associates with her Nike corporate card linked to her PayPal and Venmo accounts in exchange for kickbacks. In total, she stole over $5 million, leading to anguish among the employees who worked closely with her at Facebook and disappointment from Nike for her lack of accountability or remorse.
As a result of her actions, Furlow-Smiles was sentenced to five years and three months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. She was ordered to pay back the stolen money to the companies. The disgraced DEI officer’s excessive greed led to the end of her lucrative career and her imprisonment. The FBI noted that she brazenly continued her fraudulent schemes at Nike, believing she was untouchable, further damaging her professional reputation and integrity.
The Justice Department emphasized that Furlow-Smiles shamelessly violated her position of trust as a DEI executive at Facebook to steal millions from the company through a scheme involving fraudulent vendors, fake invoices, and cash kickbacks. Her actions not only resulted in financial losses for the companies but also caused emotional distress among employees who had trusted her. Despite the large sums of money she stole, she will now have to serve time behind bars and face the consequences of her actions.
In conclusion, Barbara Furlow-Smiles’s fraudulent actions as a diversity program manager at Facebook and Nike have led to her imprisonment and the requirement to pay back the stolen funds. She exploited her position of trust to orchestrate a complex scheme to steal millions of dollars, negatively impacting the companies and the individuals involved. Her lack of accountability and remorse has resulted in a significant prison sentence and the end of her once-promising career in diversity, equity, and inclusion.
