NEW YORK — The founder of an artificial intelligence company that provided faculty districts in Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta with a chatbot to create studying plans for college students was arrested on fraud prices Tuesday, accused of spending investor cash on herself as her company spiraled out of business.
Joanna Smith-Griffin, 33, of Raleigh, North Carolina, was arrested in her dwelling state and charged with securities and wire fraud, together with id theft.
She based ALLHere Training Inc., an artificial intelligence expertise company that created “Ed” the chatbot. The Los Angeles Unified College District was amongst people who used the product for a time earlier than shutting it down, citing the monetary collapse of Smith-Griffin’s company.
Authorities say the company’s merchandise had been additionally used in different main faculty districts together with New York Metropolis and Atlanta.
An indictment unsealed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court docket accused Smith-Griffin of making misrepresentations to traders that enabled her to gather tens of millions of {dollars} illegally from them since 2020.
It says she used some of the fraudulently obtained cash from traders to place a down cost on her dwelling in North Carolina and to pay for her wedding ceremony. After the company collapsed and workers had been laid off, it entered chapter proceedings and a trustee took over its funds, authorities stated.
U.S. Legal professional Damian Williams stated in a launch that she “orchestrated a deliberate and calculated scheme to deceive traders in AllHere Training, Inc., inflating the company’s financials to safe tens of millions of {dollars} below false pretenses.”
It was not instantly clear who would signify her in a day court docket look in North Carolina.
James E. Dennehy, head of New York’s FBI workplace, stated she misrepresented the composition of her startup company and “masqueraded as a monetary advisor to perpetuate the scheme as soon as discrepancies had been found.”
He stated her “selfishly prioritizing private bills” over the company’s wants broken the potential for improved studying environments throughout main faculty districts, based on the discharge.