Details of the federal investigation into Alberto Carvalho are still scarce as the affidavit is still sealed.
On Wednesday, FBI agents searched the home and office of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s superintendent. Carvalho took that job four years ago after 14 years leading Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
NBC6 has learned that part of the probe seems to be targeting a foundation that raises money to help the neediest kids in Miami.
During Carvalho’s tenure in Miami, an organization called the Foundation for New Education Initiatives was set up. It’s now called the Miami-Dade Public Schools Foundation. Its treasurer, then and now, is attorney Alan Fein.
“No, of course not,” Fein said when NBC6 asked him if, in Carvalho’s time in Miami, he had seen any impropriety involving the fund. “We were audited by outside accountants every year; we had clean reports from the auditors every year.”
According to two Miami-Dade School Board members, FBI agents on Wednesday served subpoenas to Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the district’s inspector general, and the Foundation for New Education Initiatives.
“Indeed, with respect to apparently what I understand they’re interested in, the inspector general looked at what we had done and concluded there had been no violation or any problem whatsoever,” Fein said.
NBC6 asked Fein if anyone had suspicions that Carvalho could have been skimming money from that fund.
“I never saw any evidence of that whatsoever, or suspicion of it; it’s nonsense,” Fein said.
FBI agents also searched the Southwest Ranches home of a woman who brokered the Los Angeles Unified School District’s purchase of an AI chatbot system, which failed to work properly. The CEO of that company, AllHere, was indicted for fraud in 2024, so it’s possible that the Carvalho investigation is related to that deal.
Fein thinks Carvalho is being targeted for his outspoken criticism of federal immigration enforcement tactics.
“That’s my personal opinion, that it’s completely politically motivated and that our superintendent, LA’s superintendent, is joining a long list of people who have dared to criticize the king,” Fein said, likening the Carvalho case to federal investigations of James Comey, John Bolton, and Leticia James.
It’s important to note that a federal judge had to approve the search warrants. Because the court has not unsealed the affidavit, we don’t know what the underlying accusation is against Carvalho. If it involves activities allegedly done while he was in Miami, those actions happened at least four years ago.