A former DEI manager for Facebook and Nike was sentenced to five years in prison for stealing over 5 million dollars from those two companies.
Barbara Furlow-Smiles, 38, was convicted of orchestrating a scheme where she used fraudulent vendors, fictitious paperwork, and cash kickbacks to steal $4.9 million from Facebook and over $120,000 from Nike. Furlow-Smiles was ordered by U.S. District Judge Steven D. Grimberg to pay restitution for the funds she stole and given five years in prison with three years of supervised release.
“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…