Imagine working at Facebook, one of the most profitable and powerful companies in the world, only to be fired and eventually hired by Nike, another of the most profitable and powerful companies in the world, only to ruin that opportunity as well.
That’s the story of Barbara Furlow-Smiles, who was sentenced to five years and three months in prison after being convicted of wire fraud, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.
While at Facebook from January 2017 to September 2021, Furlow-Smiles was a lead strategist and global head of employee resource groups and diversity engagement. Even though she wasn’t the top executive for DEI efforts, she had access to company credit cards and could approve authorized vendors for the company.
But through an organized scheme that involved fake paperwork, cash kickbacks, and fraudulent vendors, Furlow-Smiles linked Cash App, Venmo, and PayPal accounts to her Facebook credit cards, and used those accounts to pay several people including friends, family, former interns, a tutor, babysitters and a hairstylist.
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To conceal the bogus charges, Furlow-Smiles submitted fraudulent expense reports, falsely claiming that her associates or their businesses had performed work on programs and events for Facebook, such as providing swag or marketing services, when in fact they had not done so.
After these individuals received the payments from Facebook, they returned the vast majority of the money to Furlow-Smiles. They paid these kickbacks in cash and through account transfers to others, including her husband. They paid the 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, to conceal her involvement in the scheme.
Once she was fired from Facebook, Furlow-Smiles went to another high-profile company just two months later in November 2021, and dared to repeat the same fraud scheme.
Similarly, she linked her Nike corporate card to Venmo and Paypal accounts and paid her associates through those apps which ultimately caused fraud charges to the card. Those associates kicked back portions of the payments to Furlow-Smiles, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.
She was fired from her position at Nike as a Senior Director of DEI in February 2023. In the end, she stole $120,000 from Nike and more than $4.9 million from Facebook.
Along with being sentenced to five years and three months in prison, she also has to pay the amount she stole from each company in restitution, and she can’t commit wire fraud to do so.