AI Tech Startup Founder Accused Of Scamming And Conflating Numbers To Investors

AllHere Education CEO Joanna Smith-Griffin charged with fraud and identity theft.

Joanna Smith-Griffin, 33, CEO of AI education startup AllHere Education, Inc., has been charged with defrauding investors.

Southern District of New York charged Smith-Griffin with securities fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. The Grand Jury indictment alleges that Smith-Griffin lied about the educational platform’s financials and masqueraded as a financial consultant to feed false information to Investors. Acting as the financial consultant of AllHere Education, Smith-Griffin is accused of falsifying company financial records to mislead potential investors and inflate the value of her company and its revenue.

AllHere Education is an Artificial Intelligence educational platform used in K-12 schools. Smith-Griffin secured minor success in integrating the K-12 platform into individual school districts in California and Georgia. The CEO, however, did not secure long-term contracts with the school districts. She used these short-term partnerships to misrepresent the reach and financial success of AllHere Education to investors.

Smith-Griffin told potential AllHere investors that AllHere had generated approximately $3.7 million in revenue in 2020, approximately $2.5 million in cash on hand, and had major school district customers like the New York City Department of Education (“NYC DOE”) and Atlanta Public Schools. In reality, AllHere generated approximately $11,000 in revenue in 2020, had roughly $494,000 in cash, and did not have contracts with many of the customers it represented, including the NYC DOE and Atlanta Public Schools.

Smith-Griffin continued to raise capital to support the startup, garnering another $10 million in funds. As the company collapsed financially, Smith-Griffin allegedly used the cash infusion to pay for an extravagant three-day wedding in Florida and a North Carolina mansion.

FBI Assistant Director in Charge James E. Dennehy commented on Smith-Griffin’s decision to prioritize her personal aspirations over the educational platform’s needs.

“Her alleged actions impacted the potential for improved learning environments across major school districts by selfishly prioritizing personal expenses,” he said.

Smith-Griffin faces a mandatory two years in prison for the identity theft charge and a maximum of 20 years for each fraud charge. AllHere Education is now in Chapter 7 bankruptcy.