FBI scrutiny of Carvalho, LAUSD began with tip from N.Y. prosecutors examining fraud at AI firm

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The investigation that led to last week’s FBI raid at the home and office of schools Supt.Alberto Carvalho stemmed from a referral more than a year ago from New York prosecutors working a criminal fraud case involving a technology company with a Los Angeles Unified School District contract that went bust, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.

It was not until last week that the extent of the inquiry became public.The sources said grand jury subpoenas have been issued to individuals in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, where Carvalho served as superintendent before coming to L.A.

in 2022.The subpoenas seek records from the district’s inspector general and the former Foundation for New Education Initiatives, according to a source familiar with the case.

The foundation was a nonprofit organization overeseen by Carvalho while serving in Miami.It is now called the Miami-Dade County Public Schools Foundation.

In 2020 the Miami-Dade schools inspector general concluded a $1.57- million donation Carvalho helped secure for the foundation — by a firm with a pending district contract — did not violate state or district ethics policies, but created an appearance of impropriety.Neither the Miami-Dade County School District nor foundation leadership immediately responded to requests for comment.Federal authorities have not identified the target of the investigation, nor accused anyone of wrongdoing.

But sources told The Times last week that it is connected to AllHere, the firm that developed a chatbot for the nation’s second-largest school system.At least one person associated with the transactions of the defunct tech company AllHere is cooperating with federal prosecutors, according to two sources familiar with the investigation.Joanna Smith-Griffin, the founder and former chief executive of AllHere, was arrested in 2024 and charged with securities fraud, wire fraud a...