ANALYSIS – Most conservatives instinctively understand that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is a dangerous and divisive neo-Marxist ideology in disguise. Most also understand it is a huge scam orchestrated by the gigantic DEI-industrial complex to make a lot of money.
Part of the scam is legal extortion. Pay the DEI consultants and get a pass from the diversity/racial justice hordes.
But, if we weren't clear enough about the scam, meet Barbara Furlow-Smiles, 38, the Black woman who took the scam even farther by brazenly stealing over $5 million as a DEI executive at corporate behemoths Facebook and Nike.
She did this by creating fake business deals, invoices and events – including a Juneteenth celebration – at the woke companies to line her own pockets and fund her “luxury lifestyle,” according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
All this occurred between 2017 and 2021, which included the violent BLM riots of 2020 and its aftermath.
And due to her status as a Black woman DEI executive, she believed she was untouchable. That sense of impunity ended up being her downfall.
While I think these companies got what they deserved by being thoroughly complicit in the entire woke DEI business model, federal prosecutors felt differently. And so did a federal judge.
She was just sentenced to five years and three months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
As the New York Post reported:
“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 California, 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.
Her well-paid positions at these corporate giants made her the point person supporting DEI initiatives, developing strategies and hosting DEI events.
Obviously, Facebook was by far her biggest corporate victim.
Federal prosecutors noted that she used company credit cards and her power to “approve invoices for authorized vendors to pay numerous individuals,” including her former interns, her university “tutor,” friends and relatives, “for goods and services that in truth were never provided to Facebook.”
I would venture to guess that this is just one the more egregious examples of the unlawful fraud and theft being committed under the banner of DEI.
But the worst part is that hundreds of millions are being lawfully (if stupidly) spent on the DEI scam annually all over the country, including by our government.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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