ATLANTA — A former global executive at Facebook has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $4 million from the company, officials say.
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According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, the investigation began in Jan. 2017.
Court documents revealed that Barbara Furlow-Smiles, 38, of Atlanta, served as Lead Strategist, Global Head of Employee Resource Groups and Diversity Engagement at Facebook, Inc., now known as Meta Platforms, Inc.
From about Jan. 2017 to Sept. 2021, she led Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs at Facebook and was responsible for developing and executing DEI initiatives, operations, and engagement programs.
Officials say she had access to company credit cards and reportedly had authority to submit purchase requisitions and approve invoices for authorized vendors of Facebook.
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The attorney’s office said Furlow-Smiles would use Facebook to pay several individuals for goods and services never provided to the company. Those individuals then paid kickbacks to Furlow-Smiles, often in cash.
She worked in two ways.
First, Furlow-Smiles linked PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App accounts to her Facebook credit cards and used those accounts to pay friends, relatives, and other associates for goods and services reportedly provided to Facebook. However, these individuals did not provide goods or services to the company. Prosecutors say most of them did not know that the payments came from Facebook.
To hide the charges on her Facebook credit cards, she reportedly submitted 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, which they had not done.
Authorities said after these associates received payments from Facebook, they returned most of the money to Furlow-Smiles. They paid these kickbacks in cash and through transfers to accounts held in her husband’s and others’ names. Associates paid cash kickbacks in person and by Federal Express or mail, sometimes wrapping the cash in other items, such as t-shirts. Furlow-Smiles also directed associates to pay one another, or others to whom she owed money.
Second, Furlow-Smiles caused Facebook to recruit several vendors that were owned and operated by friends and associates who also paid her kickbacks. After Facebook approved contracts for these vendors, she approved purchase requisitions for these purported vendors to work for Facebook. Furlow-Smiles then approved fraudulent and inflated invoices to pay the vendors. After Facebook paid the invoices, Furlow-Smiles directed the vendors to return a portion of the money to her.
Officials said Furlow-Smiles recruited several individuals to receive money and pay kickbacks as part of the plan. These individuals included friends, relatives, former interns from a prior job, nannies and babysitters, a hair stylist, and her university tutor. She also caused Facebook to make payments for her benefit to others who did not pay kickbacks.
Furlow-Smiles reportedly used Facebook to pay almost $10,000 to an artist for specialty portraits and over $18,000 to a preschool for tuition.
In total, Furlow-Smiles stole more than $4 million from Facebook based on false charges and fraudulent invoices for which goods and services were never provided to the company. She used the money to live between California and Georgia.
Furlow-Smiles, also known as Barbara Furlow, is scheduled for sentencing on March 19, 2024.
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