Texas schools announce plans to drop student photo vendor over links to Epstein files
Quick Summary
- Texas schools plan to drop a student photo vendor linked to Jeffrey Epstein files.
- At least seven school districts are changing or canceling contracts with Life Touch Photography.
- Malakoff ISD will use in-house staff for spring photos amid parental concerns.
At least half a dozen Texas schools have pledged to either change or cancel plans to use a popular student photo vendor due to parental concerns after a former executive was mentioned in the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Officials overseeing several school districts, primarily located in East Texas, referenced reports about Leon Black, the former CEO of Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm that acquired Lifetouch Photography in 2019. Black was mentioned as part of a recent Epstein files dump in which a woman accused him of initiating sexual contact during a massage as recently as 2012, according to The Associated Press.
An attorney for Black told the AP he was a client of Epstein’s who paid the disgraced billionaire investor for estate planning and tax services. The attorney denied Black was engaged in any misconduct and had “no awareness of Epstein’s activities,” according to the report.
Black was the CEO of Apollo Global Management when it acquired Lifetouch Photography as part of its 2019 purchase of Shutterfly.
In response to reports linking Black to the Epstein files, at least seven school districts — Malakoff ISD, Cross Roads ISD, Van ISD, Winnsboro ISD, Edgewood ISD, Kemp ISD and Athens ISD — shared updates with parents to address “concerns” and “rumors” about Lifetouch.
A spokeswoman for Malakoff ISD — located just southeast of Dallas with more than 1,400 students in grades PK-12 — told The Christian Post on Friday the school district “decided to keep all of our pictures in-house for the time being” after receiving “feedback from our parents.”
On Thursday, Malakoff ISD put out a statement on social media announcing the district “canceled LifeTouch spring individual and group pictures” and will instead have staff members take spring sports images along with kindergarten and high school graduation photos and “share them directly with parents.”
Athens ISD, located roughly 15 miles east of Malakoff ISD, made a similar announcement, adding that the school district would undergo a “careful review” to identify a new vendor for its nearly 3,000 students.
Lifetouch Group CEO Ken Murphy released a statement Feb. 9 in response to the reports concerning Black, clarifying that the company is “not named in the Epstein files” and that there are “no allegations that Lifetouch itself was involved in, or that student photos were used in, any illicit activities.”
Acknowledging that Lifetouch is owned by Apollo Global Management, Murphy said that "no past or present member of Apollo’s Board of Directors or Apollo’s investors has ever had access to student images, for any purpose.”
He added, “This includes Apollo’s original co-founder and former CEO and Chairman Leon Black, who stepped away from Apollo in 2021.”
According to the Lifetouch website, the company works with tens of thousands of public and private schools to photograph millions of students annually. While Lifetouch stores its images digitally and manages photo ordering systems for families, the company also collects and retains student-related information, including student names, school affiliations and photo selection data.
"Additionally, as part of our decades long relationship with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Lifetouch prints SmileSafe cards free of charge for each student we photograph that families can use with law enforcement if a child goes missing."
An online petition calling for Education Secretary Linda McMahon and other officials to end all public school contracts with Lifetouch nationwide and launch an investigation has amassed more than 4,400 signatures as of Monday.
