Barbara Furlow-Smiles, a former Facebook global diversity strategist, pleaded guilty to wire fraud after stealing over $4 million from the company through a complex scheme involving fraudulent vendors, fictitious charges, and cash kickbacks.
In her role, she had access to company credit cards and used them to pay friends and relatives for non-existent goods and services, then submitted fraudulent expense reports to cover these charges.
She also had Facebook hire vendors operated by her friends and approved fraudulent invoices to pay them, receiving kickbacks in return. (Trending: Democrat Excludes White People From Holiday Party In Controversial Email)
Furlow-Smiles used the stolen money to maintain a luxurious lifestyle. Her sentencing is scheduled for March 19, and it’s unclear if others involved in the scheme will face charges.
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, cooperated with the investigation.
U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan condemned Furlow-Smiles’ actions, highlighting the betrayal of trust and the undermining of her DEI mission.
“She used the money to live a luxury lifestyle in California and Georgia,” prosecutors wrote.
“This defendant abused a position of a trust as a global diversity executive for Facebook to defraud the company of millions of dollars, ignoring the insidious consequences of undermining the importance of her DEI mission,” Buchanan stated.
“Motivated by greed, she used her time to orchestrate an elaborate criminal scheme in which fraudulent vendors paid her kickbacks in cash.”
“She even involved relatives, friends, and other associates in her crimes, all to fund a lavish lifestyle through fraud rather than hard and honest work,” Buchanan added.
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