Kamal Ghorui
Several school districts across the US have cancelled or altered plans for annual class pictures after social media posts linked school photography company Lifetouch to a billionaire investor who had past dealings with Jeffrey Epstein.The disruption followed online claims connecting Lifetouch to Apollo Global Management, whose former chief executive Leon Black had professional ties to Epstein. Lifetouch has described the allegations as “completely false”, as reported by the Associated Press, and said no student images were ever accessed by outside investors.Online claims trigger local cancellationsFunds managed by Apollo acquired Lifetouch’s parent company, Shutterfly, in a $2.7 billion deal that closed in September 2019, a month after Epstein died by suicide while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Black was leading Apollo at the time. He stepped down in March 2021, saying he wanted to focus on his family, health and other interests.In Malakoff, a small town in Texas, the local school district cancelled a scheduled student picture day after parents expressed concern. Spokesperson Katherine Smith said in a statement emailed that the district decided students and families “would be best served by keeping all of our pictures in-house for the rest of this year”, as reported by the Associated Press. She added that officials were reviewing options for the 2026-2027 school year.Several other schools and districts in Texas also cancelled or revised plans, along with a charter school in Arizona, according to Facebook announcements cited by the Associated Press.Lifetouch and Apollo respondLifetouch chief executive Ken Murphy said in an Instagram post that neither Black nor any Apollo directors or investors had access to Lifetouch photos. In a subsequent statement, the company said, “No Lifetouch executives have ever had any relationship or contact with Epstein and we have never shared student images with any third party, including Apollo,” as quoted by the Associated Press. The company added that Apollo and its funds have no role in daily operations and no access to student images.Apollo has noted that Epstein advised Black personally on estate planning, tax matters, charitable giving and the running of his family office, but did not provide services to Apollo or invest in its funds. A board committee review requested by Black found “no evidence” he was involved in Epstein’s alleged criminal activities, according to the Associated Press.Ongoing concerns over student dataSome parents said their worries centred on the amount of information collected with school photographs. MaKallie Gann, whose children attend schools in Howe, north of Dallas, said picture orders include a child’s name, age, grade, teacher and school, as reported by the Associated Press.A review by news organisations of at least 1.7 million documents released by the US Department of Justice found no evidence that Epstein or associates accessed Lifetouch images, the Associated Press reported.
