Ex-Facebook diversity manager scam shows inclusion’s a racket

Guess what? Turns out when you hire people to work as part of a huge scam, like corporate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs, they act as though they’re part of a huge scam.

Witness the case of Barbara Furlow-Smiles, who led Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts at Facebook from 2017 to 2021. 

Turns out she was promoting inclusion — of Facebook monies into her own hands and those of her friends and family. 

She linked corporate credit cards to payment platforms like Venmo, then used those accounts to hand cash to pals in exchange for nonexistent services, with kickbacks to her.

Furlow-Smiles then backfilled fake expense reports to cover the theft. 

She also pushed the social network to steer biz to buddies, who then sent the company fake or inflated invoices, which Furlow-Smiles purportedly OK’d in exchange for kickbacks. 

All in all, this felonious “champion of the marginalized” stole more than $4 million.

In short, Meta fell hard for DEI nonsense and is now paying the price in public embarrassment.

Yet Furlow-Smiles was ultimately stealing from Meta’s shareholders, among them huge swathes of average Joes.

Thing is, all corporate DEI efforts are a racket, and ultimately as poisonous as the ones in academia. 

Pay us, diversity consultants and VPs of inclusion argue, and stave off accusations of racism, misogyny, sexism, transphobia, fatphobia. Otherwise . . . 

This adds zero value to businesses and distracts from core missions (little things like providing goods and services in exchange for money). 

After this summer’s landmark Supreme Court victory against racism in college admissions, corporate America’s getting justly nervous about its own sins on this front.

And backlash is growing against the idea that any company should spend a nickel on this morally backward nonsense.

The case of Barbara Furlow-Smiles just puts a face on what a con DEI’s always been.