Barbara Furlow-Smiles, a former diversity program manager at Facebook and Nike, has been sentenced for defrauding her employers of more than $5 million through an elaborate scheme involving fraudulent vendors, fictitious paperwork, and cash kickbacks.
"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," said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. "After being terminated from Facebook, she brazenly continued the fraud as a DEI leader at Nike, where she stole another six-figure sum from their diversity program."
Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, added that Furlow-Smiles had "completely violated" the trust placed in her by her employers.
According to court documents presented by U.S. Attorney Buchanan, Furlow-Smiles served as Lead Strategist and Global Head of Employee Resource Groups and Diversity Engagement at Facebook from January 2017 to September 2021. In this role, she was responsible for developing and executing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and had access to company credit cards.
Furlow-Smiles used these privileges to defraud the company by paying individuals for goods and services that were never provided and then having them return the fraudulent proceeds to her.
The scheme operated in two ways: first, Furlow-Smiles linked PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App accounts to her Facebook credit cards to pay friends and relatives for non-existent goods or services. To conceal these charges, she submitted fraudulent expense reports claiming that work had been done for Facebook when it hadn't.
Secondly, Furlow-Smiles onboarded several vendors owned by friends who paid her kickbacks after receiving payment from Facebook.
After being terminated from Facebook in 2021, Furlow-Smiles continued her fraudulent activities at Nike, where she served as Senior Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion until February 2023.
In total, Furlow-Smiles stole more than $4.9 million from Facebook and over $120,000 from Nike. She used the money to fund a luxury lifestyle in California, Georgia, and Oregon.
Furlow-Smiles was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Steven D. Grimberg to five years and three months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay restitution totaling over $5 million to Facebook and Nike.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephen H. McClain and Bernita B. Malloy prosecuting the case.