Federal prosecutors have charged another Forbes 30 Under 30 student with fraud

The FBI filed a lawsuit yesterday accusing Joanna Smith-Griffin, the founder of AI startup AllHere Education, of committing “securities fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft in connection with defrauding investors” of nearly $10 million. The FBI says he misrepresented his company’s revenue, customer base, and money to investors from at least November 2020 through June 2024.

The company is subject to Chapter 7 bankruptcy, according to the US attorney’s office. Smith-Griffin faces prison terms if convicted, including a maximum sentence of 20 years for securities fraud, a maximum sentence of 20 years for wire fraud, and a mandatory sentence of two years for aggravated robbery. Smith-Griffin could not be reached for comment.

The Forbes 30 Under 30 list has become a laughing stock in the past few years as several of its honorees have found themselves accused of fraud. The Forbes-to-Fraud pipeline includes FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda Research; Fintech founder Frank Charlie Javice, and “Pharma bro” Martin Shkreli.