A former diversity manager at Facebook and Nike, Barbara Furlow-Smiles, was sentenced to five years and three months in prison for stealing over $5 million from the companies meant for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. She pleaded guilty to wire fraud in December and was found to have stolen more than $4.9 million from Facebook through fraudulent vendors, fake invoices, and cash kickbacks. After being terminated from Facebook, she continued the fraud at Nike, stealing a six-figure sum from their diversity program. Furlow-Smiles used the stolen money to fund a lavish lifestyle in California, Georgia, and Oregon, Prosecutor Ryan Buchanan said.
Furlow-Smiles, 38, held a lead strategist and global head position for employee resource groups and diversity engagement at Facebook, but she was not the top DEI executive. Prosecutors revealed that she connected PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App accounts to her Facebook credit cards to pay friends and family for unde livered goods and services that the company never received. The majority of the money paid to others was returned to Furlow-Smiles in kickbacks. The investigation discovered that she began the scheme within months of joining Facebook in 2017 and manipulated individuals close to her, including former interns who saw her as a mentor. Following her termination in 2021, she worked at Nike from November 2021 to February 2023 as a senior director of diversity, equity, and inclusion, where she conducted a similar scam.
Furlow-Smiles was sentenced in Atlanta federal court and ordered to pay nearly $5 million in restitution to Facebook and $121,000 to Nike. Prosecutors stated that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, lost over $4.5 million due to her fraud scheme in addition to other expenses like attorney fees. Meta emphasized that the harm caused by Furlow-Smiles’s criminal actions cannot be measured purely in financial terms and caused distress among employees who worked closely with her. Nike also expressed disappointment in her lack of accountability or remorse, as she violated the company’s trust and devastated employees who managed and worked with her.
Both Meta and Nike cooperated with law enforcement during the investigation, and Furlow-Smiles is required to report to prison by July 22. The prosecutor’s sentencing memo emphasized the impact of her crimes beyond financial loss, with the negative effects felt by employees at both companies who worked closely with her. Nike stated that her actions violated their trust and expressed disappointment in her behavior. CNBC reached out to Furlow-Smiles’s lawyers, Meta, and Nike for comments on her sentencing, but responses are pending. The case highlights the importance of trust, accountability, and integrity in corporate leadership roles and stresses the consequences of fraudulent behavior in the workplace.
