Several schools across the country have canceled picture day following viral social media posts revealing a connection between Leon Black, a billionaire investor with ties to Jeffrey Epstein, and Lifetouch, one of the nation’s largest school photo companies.
Prescott Valley Charter School in Arizona, as well as several local school districts in Texas, have canceled or changed school photo plans.
Schools in California and Connecticut also issued announcements clarifying the situation to families and assuring parents that the matter was being taken seriously by district leadership.
Lifetouch claims Black, who is the former CEO of an investment fund that bought Lifetouch’s parent company, never had access to student photos.
“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,” Lifetouch said in a statement. “Apollo and its funds also have no role in Lifetouch’s daily operations and have no access to student images.”
Lifetouch was founded more than 80 years ago and purchased in 2018 by photography company Shutterfly.
The following year, Shutterfly was acquired by Apollo Global Management, an asset management firm where Black was the CEO until 2021.
He resigned after it was revealed he had paid millions of dollars to Epstein between 2012 and 2017.
Before Black resigned, the company issued a report stating Epstein had advised Black on financial topics but had provided no services to Apollo or invested in any Apollo funds.
The report, which was requested by Black, also found “no evidence” that he was involved with Epstein’s alleged criminal activities.
According to Associated Press News, Black’s name appears at least 8,200 times in the files.
He also faced prior allegations of sexual assault of a minor in Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse, though Black has denied these claims and has not been criminally charged.
There is no evidence that contradicts Lifetouch’s claim that student data was not accessed, and that the company itself is not named in the files and has no ties to Epstein.
According to HuffPost, Lifetouch appeared in a 2019 bank statement belonging to a person involved in Epstein’s death investigation, though Epstein died a month before Apollo acquired Lifetouch.
Even so, parents and schools are still concerned about the claims.
“It’s not a stretch to assume that just because you don’t have a direct role in something that you don’t have access to other functions, especially as someone in a leadership position,” Megan Montanez, a mother whose daughter had her photo taken by Lifetouch, said in a message published by HuffPost. “I think we as parents aren’t angry enough.”
While no evidence was found in the released Epstein files that points to Lifetouch mishandling data, questions arise about the security of student data, which in addition to photos, includes the student’s name, age, grade, teachers and the school they attend.
The situation continues to underscore public distrust in the company’s handling of user data, as well as the growing backlash behind the release of the Epstein files.
