FBI RAIDS School Chief’s Home—AI Scheme Exposed

FBI agents raided the nation’s second-largest school district headquarters and its superintendent’s home in a federal probe linked to a failed AI chatbot scheme, raising urgent questions about how public education dollars are spent and who’s profiting from the latest tech fads pushed on our children.

Story Snapshot

FBI executed search warrants at LAUSD headquarters and Superintendent Alberto Carvalho’s San Pedro home on February 25, 2026, as part of a sealed white-collar investigation
The probe centers on financial ties to AllHere’s failed “Ed” AI chatbot, whose CEO was arrested in 2024 for securities fraud and lying to investors
Carvalho previously faced ethics scrutiny in Miami-Dade for improperly handling a $1.57 million vendor donation despite pending contracts
Armed FBI agents descended on Carvalho’s home at 6 a.m. with tactical gear, alarming neighbors in what sources describe as a financial misconduct investigation
The timing coincides with a separate DOJ lawsuit accusing LAUSD of unconstitutional racial discrimination in resource allocation

Federal Agents Swarm School District Leadership

FBI agents executed judicially approved search warrants at Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters and the personal residence of Superintendent Alberto Carvalho on Wednesday morning, February 25, 2026. The coordinated raids involved armed tactical teams descending on Carvalho’s San Pedro home around 6 a.m., with sirens blaring and loudspeakers ordering residents to remain indoors. Neighbors reported seeing at least one individual in handcuffs, though authorities have not confirmed whether Carvalho himself was detained. Simultaneously, federal agents searched LAUSD’s downtown Los Angeles headquarters while students and media gathered outside, observing agents carrying boxes to unmarked vehicles.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California confirmed the warrants but declined further comment, citing the sealed nature of the investigation. LAUSD issued a brief statement acknowledging cooperation with federal authorities but provided no additional details. Mayor Karen Bass’s office distanced itself from the matter, noting LAUSD operates independently of city government. The probe is described by law enforcement sources as white-collar in nature, focused specifically on financial issues rather than violent crime or immigration enforcement, despite Carvalho’s vocal opposition to Trump-era immigration policies.

Pattern of Questionable Vendor Relationships Emerges

The federal investigation appears centered on Carvalho’s personal financial connections to AllHere, the company behind LAUSD’s failed “Ed” AI chatbot initiative. This artificial intelligence program was marketed as revolutionary technology to improve student-family communication but never achieved full deployment and was eventually shut down. AllHere’s CEO, Joanna Smith-Griffin, was arrested in 2024 on federal charges including securities fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft for allegedly deceiving investors about the company’s financial health and technological capabilities. The chatbot debacle represents exactly the kind of wasteful spending that infuriates taxpayers who watch their hard-earned dollars funneled into trendy education schemes that fail students.

This isn’t Carvalho’s first brush with ethics concerns over vendor relationships. During his tenure leading Miami-Dade County Public Schools from 2008 to 2021, the district’s inspector general in 2020 flagged an “appearance of impropriety” in his handling of a $1.57 million donation from an online instruction company that simultaneously held pending contracts with the district. Rather than returning the funds as recommended, Carvalho distributed the money as teacher gift certificates. While the inspector general stopped short of declaring an outright ethics violation, the incident established a troubling pattern of questionable judgment regarding financial arrangements with education technology vendors seeking lucrative public contracts.

Taxpayer Money Funneled to Failed Tech Experiments

LAUSD serves over 500,000 students across more than two dozen cities, making it the second-largest school district in America. The scale of this district means any financial misconduct involving vendor contracts potentially affects massive amounts of taxpayer funding. Federal agents also executed a search warrant at a residence in Southwest Ranches, Florida, in Broward County, suggesting the investigation spans multiple states and potentially involves additional parties beyond Carvalho himself. The FBI’s use of armed tactical teams for what authorities describe as a white-collar financial investigation struck some observers as excessive, with neighbors describing the display of rifles and heavy-handed tactics as alarming for a non-violent probe.

The timing of these raids is particularly notable given ongoing federal scrutiny of LAUSD’s operations. The Department of Justice recently petitioned to join an existing lawsuit accusing the district of unconstitutional racial discrimination in how it allocates resources to schools. This separate legal action alleges LAUSD violated constitutional protections through race-based programs, a practice that flies in the face of equal treatment principles and represents the kind of divisive identity politics that conservatives have long warned erodes merit-based education. LAUSD now faces federal investigators on multiple fronts, raising serious questions about leadership judgment and accountability in an institution entrusted with educating half a million children.

The investigation remains sealed, meaning specific allegations against Carvalho have not been publicly disclosed. No arrests were confirmed at any of the search locations as of Wednesday evening. LAUSD announced plans to bring in independent experts to review what went wrong with the AI chatbot program and develop recommendations for future technology procurement. For parents and taxpayers frustrated with watching education bureaucracies chase expensive technological fads while basic educational outcomes languish, this federal probe serves as a long-overdue reckoning. The American people deserve transparency about how their tax dollars are spent and accountability when education leaders make decisions that benefit vendors more than students.