Some colleges cancel class footage after claims about Epstein – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Value

Some college districts within the United States dropped plans for sophistication footage after widespread social media posts linked a billionaire with ties to Jeffrey Epstein to the images big Lifetouch, which on Friday referred to as the claims “completely false.”

The disruption to high school image plans in Texas and elsewhere started after on-line posts linked Lifetouch, which images tens of millions of scholars annually, to the funding fund supervisor Apollo Global Management. Apollo’s former CEO is billionaire investor Leon Black, who met usually with Epstein and was suggested by Epstein on monetary issues.

Black led the corporate in 2019, when funds managed by Apollo purchased Lifetouch’s dad or mum firm, Shutterfly. The $2.7 billion deal closed in September 2019 — a month after Epstein’s loss of life by suicide behind bars as he awaited trial over allegations from federal prosecutors that he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of ladies.

Both Lifetouch and Apollo famous that timeline in statements Friday, two days after Lifetouch CEO Ken Murphy mentioned in an Instagram publish that neither Black nor any of Apollo’s administrators or buyers ever had any entry to Lifetouch photographs.

“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 mentioned in its assertion Friday. “Apollo and its funds also have no role in Lifetouch’s daily operations and have no access to student images.”

The canceled college footage are one other ripple impact over the discharge of tens of millions of recordsdata from the Epstein investigation, together with paperwork displaying Epstein’s common contacts with CEOs, journalists, scientists and distinguished politicians lengthy after a 2008 conviction on intercourse crimes expenses.

In the small Texas city of Malakoff, the native college district canceled a pupil image day after a number of dad and mom informed the district they weren’t snug with Lifetouch photographing their youngsters, spokesperson Katherine Smith mentioned in a press release e-mailed Friday. Several different colleges and districts in Texas additionally canceled or modified plans, in addition to a constitution college in Arizona, in response to Facebook bulletins posted by the faculties.

“We decided our students and families would be best served by keeping all of our pictures in-house for the rest of this year, and we are looking at all of our options for the 2026-2027 school year,” Smith mentioned.

Parents involved about Lifetouch included MaKallie Gann, whose youngsters attend colleges in Howe, about 60 miles north of Dallas. She mentioned she was fearful about how a lot info Lifetouch collects on college students.

“Whenever you order the pictures, it has their name. It has the age, of course. It has their grade, their teacher, the school that they’re in,” she mentioned.

No proof of Epstein or anybody in his orbit seeing Lifetouch photographs has emerged from information organizations’ overview of 1000’s of paperwork launched this month by the U.S. Department of Justice, although there are not less than 1.7 million information.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, grilled Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday over his go to to Jeffrey Epstein’s island in 2012, 4 years after Epstein was convicted of procuring a toddler for prostitution and solicitation.

The overview reveals Black’s identify appeared 8,200 instances, although that determine doubtless contains some duplicate information. Black stepped down as Apollo’s CEO in March 2021, saying he wished to deal with his household, well being, and “many different pursuits.”

That was two months after a committee of the corporate’s board issued a report concluding that Epstein had suggested Black personally on property planning, tax points, charitable giving and operating his “family office,” however supplied no providers to Apollo or invested in no Apollo funds.

The report additionally mentioned the overview — which Black requested — discovered “no evidence” that he was concerned with Epstein’s alleged felony actions “in any way” or “at any time.”

Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas. Also contributing was Associated Press author Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota.