Crime doesn't pay, even if you're a literal diversity hire!
Barbara Furlow-Smiles, a former global diversity executive at Facebook, has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $4 million from the company utilizing an elaborate scheme involving fraudulent vendors, fictitious charges, and cash kickbacks.
Anyone can defraud a company, but there's a rich irony when it happens like this. It's true, and we all know it.
The woman's scheme was pretty sophisticated and worth laying out here in some detail:
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 purportedly provided to Facebook. But these individuals did not provide goods or services to the company. Most of them did not know that the payments came from Facebook.
Barbara would then conceal the bogus charges by submitting fake expense reports, saying her friends and family were providing goods and services to Facebook.
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. To further conceal her actions, Furlow-Smiles also directed associates to pay one another, or others who she owed money.
I guess Barbara forgot to mention this in her interview about working with family in business!!
Doesn't that seem like an absolute ton of work when you're already probably getting paid a comfortable six-figure salary?
Especially when you are running side hustles on the side!
Meanwhile, lots of comments on social media like this 👇
The people in those positions are steeped in race-based Marxism. The entire reason their jobs exist is to address the racism of (white) Americans and the evils of capitalism.
When you think like that and you get hired to a boogie position, you might think it's morally right to "redistribute" money to those you know. I don't know if that happened to Barbara, but we've offered the DEI folks A LOT of money in recent years.
Gotta wonder how many more are redistributing wealth to friends!
The fraudster will be sentenced in March of next year.
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
