Dr. Brian Scriven, superintendent of the Cheltenham School District, issued a notice today regarding “reported connections between Lifetouch, the photography company who takes our K-8 student portraits, and the former CEO of a parent company, financier Leon Black.”
Black is the former CEO of Apollo Global Management, an investment fund manager. According to the Associated Press, funds managed by Apollo bought Lifetouch’s parent company, Shutterfly, in 2019 for $2.7 billion.
According to Forbes, Black stepped down as Apollo’s CEO and chairman in 2021 after a board investigation found that he paid $170 million in fees to Jeffrey Epstein, the infamous financier, convicted child sex offender, sex trafficker, and subject of more than three million pages released by the Justice Department in late January.
“We understand that media reports such as these about business associations involving prominent individuals can raise questions for families and staff,” the notice says. “Lifetouch has issued a public statement clarifying that it has no operational relationship with Black that he has no involvement in the company’s day-to-day operations or school photography services.”
The Associated Press published Lifetouch’s statement on February 13. According to their coverage, other school districts around the country have discontinued working with Lifetouch following “widespread social media posts” linking Black’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
The Associated Press referred to Black as a “billionaire investor” “who met regularly with Epstein and was advised by Epstein on financial matters.”
Lifetouch called the claims connecting the company to Epstein “completely false.”
“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 its statement. “Apollo and its funds also have no role in Lifetouch’s daily operations and have no access to student images.”
Black’s name appeared 8,200 times (many are likely duplicates, the Associated Press said) among the thousands of documents released earlier this month by the U.S. Department of Justice.
“No evidence of Epstein or anyone in his orbit seeing Lifetouch photos has emerged from news organizations’ review” of those documents, the Associated Press wrote.
According to Dr. Scriven’s notice, Lifetouch will take photos of the district’s K-8 students this spring as the district explores other options for future portrait services.
“As parents/guardians, you are able to opt your child(ren) out of photos by speaking with your building principal,” the notice says, adding that requests to delete existing digital portraits can be made here.
“At this time, there is no indication of any impact on student safety, district operations, or the services provided in our schools,” Dr. Scriven wrote. “Nevertheless, we are conducting appropriate due diligence consistent with policies.”
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