When FBI officials confirmed Wednesday its agents had served a search warrant at the home of Los Angeles schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho and the headquarters of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the feds were mum about its investigation.
But a third search warrant — carried out at a home in Southwest Ranches in Broward — may offer some clue. It is the home of Debra Kerr, a former sales representative for AllHere Education, an artificial intelligence technology company that created “Ed” the chatbot, which created learning plans for students.
The Los Angeles Unified School District was among several school districts that used the product for a time before shutting it down, citing the financial collapse of the company founded by Joanna Smith-Griffin. Authorities say the company’s products were also used in other major school districts including New York City and Atlanta.
Smith-Griffin, 33, of Raleigh, North Carolina, was arrested on fraud charges in November 2024, accused of spending investor money on herself as her company spiraled into bankruptcy. She was charged with securities and wire fraud, along with identity theft.
Smith-Griffin was accused of making misrepresentations to investors that enabled her to collect millions of dollars illegally from them since 2020. Prosecutors told the AP at the time that she used the money to put a down payment on her home in North Carolina and to pay for her wedding.
Neither Carvalho nor Kerr have been charged with any crimes.
In awarding the company a five-year $6 million contract, Carvalho touted the AllHere Education’s innovative technology. Three months after unveiling the technology and paying the company $3 million, LAUSD official dropped its dealings with AllHere as it collapsed.
Carvalho denied personal involvement in the selection of AllHere, according to the Los Angeles Times, and pledged to appoint a task force to examine what went wrong with the project. There have been no announcements of a task force being appointed, however.
The Los Angeles Times, citing law enforcement sources, reported that the federal investigation specifically involves Carvalho, who became the LAUSD superintendent in February 2022 after leaving as superintendent of Miami-Dade public schools. Both are among the nation’s largest school districts.
Southwest Ranches, a day after the FBI raid
National news outlets described Kerr as a longtime associate of Carvalho. The 74, an education nonprofit news site, reported in October 2024 that Kerr said during a bankruptcy hearing that "she was never paid commission for her work closing the lucrative AllHere deal in L.A." Kerr's son also worked as an account executive for AllHere, the 74 reported.
The morning after the FBI raided Kerr's residence in the affluent equestrian community, the stillness of the late morning belied the commotion some 24 hours before.
The gated bungalow sits in a street lined with large, gated homes with sprawling driveways.
A construction worker and the project manager working on a home nearby told WLRN they saw unmarked government vans and two Davie police cars in front of Kerr's home yesterday and assumed it was federal immigration enforcement.
WLRN reporters used the buzzer at the gate guarding Kerr's .79-acre property, but the line was disconnected.
"Your call cannot be completed at this time," an automated voice said. "Please contact the account owner if you have questions."
