The Furlow-Smiles reveals the clash of corporate power and ethics in a murky professional environment.
An Atlanta woman has admitted to embezzling more than $4 million from Facebookduring her tenure as an executive at the company.
Barbara Furlow-Smiles, who worked as a senior strategist, global head of employee resource groups and diversity engagement at Facebook, admitted to her crimes that took place from January 2017 to September 2021.
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The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, Ryan K. Buchanan, stressed that the defendant abused her position, betraying the company's trust and ignoring her key role in the business.
According to the prosecutor, Furlow-Smiles improperly used Facebook funds for personal comforts, maintaining a luxurious lifestyle in California and Georgia.
Furlow-Smiles used a “strategy” of linking her corporate credit cards to PayPal, Venmo and Cash App, paying others for services they never provided. Those who received the payments then returned the money as commissions to Furlow-Smiles. Buchanan says she even involved family and friends in her crimes to fund her lavish lifestyle. She is scheduled to be sentenced on March 19, 2024.
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The sophisticated strategy Furlow-Smiles used to abuse her credit cards highlights the extent of the blatant breach of trust that Facebook, now Meta, had shown her. The involvement of friends, family, and associates in her malicious scheme reflects not only her fraud acumen, but also her lack of respect for the company she worked for.
Source of information: https://edition.cnn.com/business
