Alberto Carvalho, the Superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District, is reportedly under federal scrutiny due to his ties with Joanna Smith-Griffin, a former Forbes “30 Under 30” honoree now facing accusations from the Department of Justice for allegedly defrauding investors out of $10 million.
Since taking the helm of the country’s second-largest school district in 2022, Carvalho has found himself at the center of an intense federal probe. This investigation gained significant traction on Wednesday with a series of dramatic FBI searches at Carvalho’s residence, his professional office, and the Miami home of Debra Kerr, a consultant associated with Smith-Griffin.
Insiders familiar with the collaborative FBI and DOJ investigation indicate that the inquiries focus on Carvalho’s interactions with AllHere, an educational technology startup founded by Smith-Griffin at Harvard. The company provided AI-driven tools designed to enhance student attendance and engagement in American schools.
Smith-Griffin, known for her dynamic leadership, propelled AllHere from the Harvard Innovation Labs into the national spotlight until her arrest in 2024 at the age of 33.
In a 2021 interview with Forbes, she ambitiously stated, “My goal over the next 12 months is a land grab.”
During Carvalho’s administration, the Los Angeles Unified School District engaged Smith-Griffin’s firm for a $6 million AI chatbot initiative in 2024. However, the project was abruptly terminated, leading to the company’s downfall.
Carvalho and Smith-Griffin appeared together at several events that year to hype the effort, which Carvalho said was a “game changer” and “unprecedented in American public education.”
Meanwhile, Smith-Griffin had falsely claimed her start-up chatbot had big clients, like New York City and Atlanta’s public school districts, and lied that the company had generated millions in revenue, when if fact it had only made thousands, prosecutors charge.
It all came crashing down when she was federally charged with a series of felonies later that year.
“Smith-Griffin orchestrated a deliberate and calculated scheme to deceive investors in AllHere Education, Inc., inflating the company’s financials to secure millions of dollars under false pretenses,” US Attorney Damian Williams said in announcing her indictment at the time.
“The law does not turn a blind eye to those who allegedly distort financial realities for personal gain,” he added.
Prosecutors say Smith-Griffin was able to obtain nearly $10 million from investors based on her lies, and sought an additional $35 million from a private equity investor, who ultimately decided not to invest.
The young CEO used some of the fraudulently obtained funds to put a down payment on her house in North Carolina and pay for her wedding, and tried to cover alleged crimes by creating fake email account which she used to send phony financial documents to her largest investor, prosecutors say.
She is charged with securities fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory sentence of two years in prison.
Smith-Griffin has not been found guilty of any crimes and is reportedly in talks with prosecutors to settle her case.
Before her downfall, the precocious tech CEO rode a wave of AI hype into spotlight, appearing on a Forbes 30 Under 30 list in a red silk dress designed by Jonathan Cohen, where she claimed AllHere’s client base had ballooned to 2,000 schools in 15 states, who paid an annual subscription fee of $2 per student.
She also appeared on a 2024 “Female Founders” list published by Inc.
Carvalho was not named in Smith-Griffin’s indictment.
It’s unknown if her reported settlement with federal prosecutors has anything to do with the raids on Carvalho’s home and office, and that of Kerr, who as a consultant brokered the deal between AllHere and LA Unified.
Neither Carvalho nor Kerr have been charged with a crime. Both did not respond to calls for comment.
Smith-Griffin and her attorneys also did not respond to calls for comment.
FBI agents were on Wednesday spotted with rifles outside Carvalho’s spacious Palos Verdes home and taking documents and other items away the raid.
Nobody has been arrested or charged in the FBI’s investigation of Carvalho and he has remained in his $440,000-a-year post in charge of nearly 400,000 LA public school students.
Parents have called for Carvalho’s ouster, and the school board is conducting closed meetings on whether he should remain.
