Alberto Carvalho has resigned as superintendent of the Los Angeles school district, the second largest in the United States, in a move announced during overnight hours. His departure comes as he remains at the center of a federal investigation, raising questions about the timing of his exit and what may come next.
The resignation is tied to an FBI corruption and fraud probe. According to the reporting, federal agents raided Carvalho's home in the San Pedro area months earlier as part of that investigation. The raid signaled that the case had reached the top of one of the country's biggest public school systems.
At the heart of the probe is an AI chatbot that the school district had moved to use. The technology was provided by a company called AllHere, whose chief executive, Joanna Smith Griffin, was arrested in 2024 and accused of misleading investors. The collapse of that firm has become a focal point of the inquiry.
The financial side of the deal has drawn particular scrutiny. The Los Angeles contract was the largest the company secured, worth about 6.3 million dollars. Within a matter of months, more than 2 million dollars had been spent and the company declared bankruptcy, an outcome described as deeply embarrassing for the district.
Questions have also been raised about who benefited from the arrangement. According to the account, Carvalho recommended close friends from his time in the Miami-Dade school district for jobs as sales consultants at the firm, a detail that has fed concerns about how the contract was handled and who was hired.
Critics have pointed to the consequences of resigning at this stage. By stepping down rather than being removed, Carvalho is reported to remain eligible to collect his pension, linked to a contract worth around 180,000 dollars a year, even if criminal charges are eventually filed against him.
For now, the broader case appears centered on Miami-Dade, with no other Los Angeles officials publicly named as suspects. With the former chief executive of the company arrested in 2024 and still awaiting trial, investigators continue to work through the details as the fallout reaches the leadership of the Los Angeles school system.