[NYPOST] The ex-diversity program manager for Facebook and Nike who stole more than $5 million from the mega companies to fund her "luxury lifestyle" was sentenced Monday to five years behind bars — and ordered to pay back the hefty sum.
Barbara Furlow-Smiles, 38, set up fake business deals, invoices and events — including a Juneteenth celebration — to line her own pockets, the Justice Department said.
"Furlow-Smiles shamelessly violated her position of trust as a DEI executive at Facebook to steal millions from the company utilizing a scheme involving fraudulent vendors, fake invoices, and cash kickbacks," US Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said in a statement.
"After being terminated from Facebook, she brazenly continued the fraud as a DEI leader at Nike, where she stole another six-figure sum from their diversity program."
Furlow-Smiles pleaded guilty in December to the wire fraud scheme, which saw her take more than $4.9 million from Facebook before bilking a six-figure amount from Nike "to fund a luxury lifestyle in Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, Georgia, and Oregon," the DOJ said.
The social media company claimed her "crimes also resulted in anguish amongst those employees that worked closely with her," while Nike said her "complete lack of accountability or remorse was incredibly disappointing," according to sentencing memos obtained by CNBC.
From approximately January 2017 to September 2021, the Georgia native "led diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs at Facebook and was responsible for developing and executing DEI initiatives, operations, and engagement programs," prosecutors said.
She used her access to company credit cards and her power to "approve invoices for authorized vendors to pay numerous individuals," including her friends and relatives, "for goods and services that in truth were never provided to Facebook."
Those individuals — who allegedly included her former interns, her "university tutor," a hairstylist, baby-sitters and nannies — would later funnel kickbacks to Furlow-Smiles.
The associates — most of whom were reportedly unaware that the funds were coming from Facebook — would return the money to Furlow-Smiles in cash or via account transfers. The feds noted that the cash was sometimes delivered to Furlow-Smiles wrapped in T-shirts or other items.
She also misled Facebook into sending money to entities that did not provide kickbacks, including nearly $10,000 to an artist who created specialty portraits and more than $18,000 to an unnamed preschool.
[Springfield Armory] Springfield Armory® is honored to celebrate half a century of crafting the iconic M1A™, a faithful semi-auto recreation of the legendary M14 rifle. Each rifle includes a signed certificate of authenticity, affirming its status as a true collector’s item. Presented in an eastern white pine display crate, this limited edition release combines historic significance with modern craftsmanship. Own a piece of history and experience the 50th Anniversary M1A. Some people have problems with SA over various past political issues. That said, this will be a hot collector item.
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[JustTheNews] The GOP-led House passed a bill on Thursday to allow more law enforcement officers to carry concealed firearms across state lines.
The bill received support from 16 House Democrats while 185 opposed it.
The final vote was 221-185.
The LEOSA Reform Act, in it became law, would broaden the "authority for certain law enforcement officers to carry concealed firearms across state lines."
The legislation would also allow "qualified active and retired law enforcement officers to carry concealed firearms and ammunition (including magazines) in school zones; in national parks; on state, local, or private property that is open to the public; and in certain federal facilities that are open to the public."
Another one to set aside until the Republicans control both Houses of Congress, and probably the White House as well.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[NYPOST] The ex-diversity program manager for Facebook and Nike who stole more than $5 million from the mega companies to fund her "luxury lifestyle" was sentenced Monday to five years behind bars — and ordered to pay back the hefty sum.
[JustTheNews] The GOP-led House passed a bill on Thursday to allow more law enforcement officers to carry concealed firearms across state lines.
