Barbara Furlow-Smiles, a Georgia resident and former Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) executive at Facebook, admitted on Tuesday to defrauding the company of more than $4 million from 2017 until 2021.
Federal prosecutors said Furlow-Smiles “abused a position of trust as a global diversity executive” to steal “millions of dollars” from Facebook while “ignoring the insidious consequences of undermining the importance of her DEI mission.”
The prosecutors explained that Furlow-Smiles linked Facebook company credit cards, issued in her name, to PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App, and “used those accounts to pay friends, relatives, and other associates for goods and services purportedly provided to Facebook.”
These individuals had no ties to Facebook, other than their connection to Furlow-Smiles, and did not deliver products or services to the company. While some of them did not know about the illicit arrangement, prosecutors said Furlow-Smiles concealed “the bogus charges” by submitting “fraudulent expense reports, falsely claiming that her associates or their businesses performed work on programs and events for Facebook, such as providing swag or marketing services.”
After Furlow-Smiles sent the money to her associates, they returned the money to the Facebook executive, either by mailing cash or “through transfers to accounts held in her husband’s and others’ names.” Some of those Furlow-Smiles provided “kickbacks” to received them in person, with Furlow-Smiles “sometimes wrapping the cash in other items, such as T-shirts.”
Specific examples of Furlow-Smiles’ thefts highlighted by prosecutors, and discovered by investigators at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), include “$10,000 to an artist for specialty portraits and more than $18,000 to a preschool for tuition.” Furlow-Smiles also admitted to spending Facebook’s money to pay “babysitters, a hair stylist, and her university tutor.”
Prosecutors report the former DEI executive “stole more than $4 million from Facebook based on fictitious charges and fraudulent invoices for which goods and services were never provided to the company.” They said Furlow-Smiles “used the money to live a luxury lifestyle in California and Georgia.”
Furlow-Smiles is scheduled to be sentenced on March 19. Prosecutors said Meta, the parent company of Facebook, assisted the FBI in its investigation.
Analysts predicted the federal government would increase its scrutiny over DEI initiatives in 2022 when DEI attorney Johnjerica Hodge wrote for Bloomberg Law that “all signs indicate that government investigations in this space will increase in scope and number.”
Hodge explained that, in every DEI case investigated in 2022, “authorities investigated a company’s DEI initiative and alleged that the program was used as a tool to commit fraud,” particularly to misrepresent a company’s commitment to social welfare, part of the controversial environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores.
In November, the Paradigm Consulting Group found that DEI initiatives “lost steam in 2023 compared to previous years,” according to The Daily Caller, with companies shifting resources “due to tightening economic conditions.”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
