The Justice Department has revealed that Barbara Furlow-Smiles, a former manager of Facebook’s diversity program, has entered a guilty plea to defrauding the social media behemoth of over $4 million through a complex scam involving fictitious business transactions and kickbacks.
Between January 2017 and September 2021, Furlow-Smiles, a former global head of employee resource groups and diversity engagement at Facebook as well as lead strategist, is accused of masterminding the scheme. She was in charge of managing operations, engagement efforts, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs at the business during this time.
The Justice Department claims that Furlow-Smiles forced Facebook to pay people—including friends and family—for products and services that the firm never received because she had access to company credit cards and the power to authorize invoices. These people would then give kickbacks to Furlow-Smiles.
The kickback scam allegedly enlisted the help of former interns, nannies, hair stylists, university tutors, and babysitters. It’s yet unknown if Furlow-Smiles’ associates will be charged in relation to this case.
Furlow-Smiles tricked Facebook into paying money to organizations that weren’t involved in kickbacks, like an unidentified preschool and an artist that made specialty pictures, in order to further conceal the illegal transactions. False expenditure reports were made by the previous manager of Facebook’s diversity program, who claimed that these people were merchants at Facebook events who had helped with marketing or supplied items.
Prosecutors claim that Barbara Furlow-Smiles used the pilfered money to support an opulent lifestyle that stretched from Georgia to California. According to the Justice Department, she utilized her trusted position as a global diversity officer to commit fraud against the corporation in order to finance her extravagant lifestyle.
In her statement regarding the case, FBI Special Agent Keri Farley claimed that “Furlow-Smiles used lies and deceit to defraud both vendors and Facebook employees.” Ryan K. Buchanan, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, denounced her conduct and emphasized how they betrayed the significance of her DEI mission.
The parent corporation of Facebook, Meta, has assisted law enforcement with their inquiry. The Justice Department recognized Meta’s significant contribution to the case.
Furlow-Smiles entered a guilty plea in a Georgia court and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 19, 2024. The accusations leveled against her show the possible repercussions of abusing a position of trust within a large organization, as they include planning a complex criminal scheme and robbing Facebook of millions of dollars.
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I have yet to see any DEI group in corporate honorable. For example, a certain airline, which I know well since I used to work for them, LOVES hiring diverse candidates and I see plenty who shouldn’t have even been hired, the majority in recruiting ARE diverse. When they did layoffs for Covid and rehired, whom they brought back is a black woman who has been on performance action plans multiple times so we know diverse candidates are being a priority over better qualified candidates. Such BS!
People that buy into this garbage and getting into these corporations and politics pushing this crap cannot be trusted. You can see that by everyone who makes up the squad on the democrat side. Every one of them is a POS rascist hateful lefty who hates the US and decent society!
Yup, lucifer’s dimmercraps, criminal to their core.