MALAKOFF, Texas — Some college districts in the U.S. dropped plans for sophistication images after in style social media posts linked a billionaire with ties to Jeffrey Epstein to the pictures huge Lifetouch, which on Friday known as the claims “fully fraudulent.”
The disruption to college represent plans in Texas and in diverse locations started after on-line posts linked Lifetouch, which images tens of millions of students every 365 days, to the investment fund manager Apollo Worldwide Administration. Apollo’s current CEO is billionaire investor Leon Dusky, who met typically with Epstein and turn out to be instantaneous by Epstein on financial matters.
Dusky led the firm in 2019, when funds managed by Apollo offered Lifetouch’s parent firm, Shutterfly. The $2.7 billion deal closed in September 2019 — a month after Epstein’s death by suicide in the motivate of bars as he awaited trial over allegations from federal prosecutors that he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of girls.
Each Lifetouch and Apollo properly-known that timeline in statements Friday, two days after Lifetouch CEO Ken Murphy acknowledged in an Instagram post that neither Dusky nor any of Apollo’s administrators or traders ever had any catch entry to to Lifetouch images.
“No Lifetouch executives have ever had any relationship or contact with Epstein and now we have by no device shared student images with any third birthday celebration, including Apollo,” Lifetouch acknowledged in its assertion Friday. “Apollo and its funds even have not any role in Lifetouch’s day-to-day operations and have not any catch entry to to student images.”
The canceled college images are but any other ripple scheme over the initiate of tens of millions of files from the Epstein investigation, including documents displaying Epstein’s current contacts with CEOs, journalists, scientists and properly-known politicians lengthy after a 2008 conviction on sex crimes charges.
Within the tiny Texas town of Malakoff, the native college district canceled a student represent day after loads of different folks advised the district they weren’t gay with Lifetouch photographing their early life, spokesperson Katherine Smith acknowledged in an announcement e-mailed Friday. Plenty of diverse colleges and districts in Texas also canceled or changed plans, as properly as a constitution college in Arizona, in response to Fb announcements posted by the colleges.
“We made up our minds our students and families would possibly possibly presumably per chance be entirely served by conserving all of our images in-condominium for the remainder of this 365 days, and we are all of our alternate ideas for the 2026-2027 college 365 days,” Smith acknowledged.
Of us alive to on Lifetouch incorporated MaKallie Gann, whose early life aid colleges in Howe, about 60 miles north of Dallas. She acknowledged she turn out to be insecure about how mighty records Lifetouch collects on students.
“Everytime you expose the pictures, it has their name. It has the age, in spite of the total lot. It has their grade, their teacher, the college that they’re in,” she acknowledged.
No evidence of Epstein or anybody in his orbit seeing Lifetouch images has emerged from news organizations’ evaluate of hundreds of documents launched this month by the U.S. Department of Justice, though there are a minimal of 1.7 million records.
The evaluate exhibits Dusky’s name looked 8,200 times, though that figure possible comprises some duplicate records. Dusky stepped down as Apollo’s CEO in March 2021, asserting he wished to point of interest on his family, properly being, and “many other interests.”
That was two months after a committee of the company’s board issued a report concluding that Epstein had advised Black personally on estate planning, tax issues, charitable giving and running his “family office,” but provided no services to Apollo or invested in no Apollo funds.
The report also said the review — which Black requested — found “no evidence” that he was involved with Epstein’s alleged criminal activities “in any way” or “at any time.” ___
Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas. Also contributing was Associated Press writer Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota.
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