A former chief diversity officer of both Facebook and Nike just learned that crime doesn't pay and that freedom is indeed priceless. Barbara Furlow-Smiles has just been sentenced to five years in prison for stealing millions of dollars from both companies.
According CNBC, Furlow-Smiles pleaded guilty to fraud in December 2023 after being accused of stealing $4.9 million from Facebook using fake invoices, fraudulent vendors and even cash kickbacks while working for the company. Interestingly enough, she continued to engage in such practices when she got herself a new gig at Nike as their DEI, but only made a little over $100,000. Chicken feed compared to the millions he got from Facebook, but a lot of money.
Prosecutors in the case asked the judge to sentence her to 6½ years as she used the money to finance a rather lavish lifestyle in California, Georgia and Oregon, but “luckily” for Smiles, the judge overseeing the case decided cut the sentence to five years for her violations and ordered her to repay Facebook $4.8 million and Nike $121,000.
CNBC reports:
Prosecutors said in their brief that in addition to the money Furlow-Smiles stole from the company, Meta lost more than $4.5 million “in addition to other expenses, such as attorney's fees, incurred as a result of Meta having to to uncover and investigate her fraud scheme.”
“As Meta notes, “the damage from [Furlow-Smiles’] “Criminal conduct cannot be measured purely in economic terms,” prosecutors said in their brief. “Her crimes also caused distress among employees who worked closely with her.”
Nike told prosecutors it was “assigned as a leader for [the] company, that it will embody the value of 'Doing the Right Thing' which is one of NIKE's core tenets,” the prosecutor said in his brief. “As Nike explains,[t]o say Ms Furlow-Smiles breached our trust would be an understatement. The fraud perpetrated by Ms Furlow-Smiles breached trust and destroyed the employees who succeeded and worked with her.” “
We're surprised she continued her design at Nike after being fired from Facebook. Didn't they call her previous employers for references or anything?
What do you think of this multi-million dollar plan? Let us know in the comments section below.