Mount Pleasant Area School District joined districts across the country in cutting ties with school picture company Lifetouch after concerns surfaced on social media linking the company to individuals mentioned in the Jeffrey Epstein files.
The superintendent notified families of the decision in a letter sent Wednesday, according to TribLive news partner WTAE.
Online posts linked Lifetouch, which photographs millions of students each year, to the investment fund manager Apollo Global Management, Associated Press reported. Apollo’s former CEO is billionaire investor Leon Black, who met regularly with Epstein, was advised by Epstein on financial matters and was mentioned thousands of times in the files.
Black led the company in 2019, when funds managed by Apollo bought Lifetouch’s parent company, Shutterfly. The $2.7 billion deal closed in September 2019 — a month after Epstein’s death.
Lifetouch, which photographs millions of students each year, called the claims completely false.
“When Lifetouch photographers take your student’s picture, that image is safeguarded for families and schools, only, with no exceptions. Lifetouch does not — and has never provided — images to any third party,” the picture company’s CEO, Ken Murphy, said in a public statement.
The statement continued, saying no one employed by Apollo has ever had access to any student images. Funds managed by subsidiaries of Apollo Global Management are investors in Shutterfly, the parent company of Lifetouch. Neither Apollo nor its funds are involved in the day-to-day operations of Lifetouch, it said.
“Lifetouch is not named in the Epstein files. The documents contain no allegations that Lifetouch itself was involved in, or that student photos were used in, any illicit activities.
