Barbara Furlow-Smiles, a former high-ranking executive responsible for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives at Facebook, now known as Meta, has confessed to orchestrating an elaborate embezzlement scheme in which she stole over $4 million from the company.

Furlow-Smiles, who served as the global diversity executive at Facebook from 2017 to 2021, allegedly hatched an intricate plan to siphon off funds from the tech giant. Exploiting her position, which granted her access to company credit cards and invoice approval authority, she embarked on two primary methods to embezzle money, Fox Atlanta reported.

Furlow-Smiles linked her Facebook credit cards to various payment apps like PayPal, Venmo, and CashApp. She used these payment platforms to transfer funds to friends, relatives, and associates for services never rendered to Facebook. To cover her tracks, she submitted fraudulent expense reports. Her associates, unaware that these payments originated from Facebook, returned a significant portion of the money to her as kickbacks, often in cash.

“In these reports, she falsely claimed that her associates or their businesses provided goods and services to Facebook for various programs and events, when in fact they had not,” prosecutors said.
Among those involved in her scheme were relatives, friends, former interns from a previous job, “nannies and babysitters,” a hair stylist, and her college tutor, prosecutors said.

For instance, she caused Facebook to pay nearly $10,000 to an artist for specialized portraits and over $18,000 to a preschool for tuition.

Barbara Furlow-Smiles’ embezzlement scheme massed more than $4 million, which she used to fund a lavish lifestyle, splitting her time between California and Georgia, Business Insider reported.

Sentencing for Furlow-Smiles is scheduled for March 19, 2024. The Federal Bureau of Investigation spearheaded the investigation.

Barbara Furlow-Smiles, photo: LinkedIn