Two Georgia men admit to defrauding Meta out of more than $1 million, US attorney says

Written by: A. Smith

Published November 14, 2025 @ 9:17 AM ET

ATLANTA, Ga. – Two Georgia men have pleaded guilty to defrauding Meta out of more than $1 million by conspiring with a former Facebook executive who submitted fake invoices for work that was never performed, federal prosecutors announced.

Brice E. Anderson and Terrance Lockett each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.

The men conspired with Barbara Furlow-Smiles, who served as Meta’s Global Head of Employee Resource Groups and Diversity Engagement from January 2017 to September 2021, prosecutors said.

During her tenure, Furlow-Smiles used company credit cards to pay Anderson and Lockett for work that was never completed, according to court documents.

Anderson and Furlow-Smiles defrauded Meta out of nearly $1.2 million, while Furlow-Smiles defrauded the company of an additional $243,000 in a separate scheme with Lockett, prosecutors said.

Furlow-Smiles stole more than $5 million combined from Meta and Nike, where she worked after leaving Meta, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. She pleaded guilty to wire fraud last year and was sentenced to five years and three months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

Anderson and Lockett are scheduled to be sentenced next year. Federal sentencing guidelines were not immediately available.