Are School Photos Now Doomed?
Something Strange is Happening with School Picture Day, and every parent should know this…
Here’s why parents across the United States are calling their child’s school to cancel school picture day.
The problem: Lifetouch, the Minnesota-based company that takes school pictures in all 50 states as well as Canada is a subsidiary of Shuttlefly, which, in turn, falls under the management of Apollo Global Management. Apollo was originally founded as Apollo Advisors in 1990 by Leon Black, one of the managers tied to Jeffrey Epstein. Black remained at the firm until 2021, when he stepped down after having been found to have given Epstein $158 million for tax and estate planning advice.
Not only are individual families taking action, but some schools, notably in East Texas, have severed their ties with Lifetouch and made arrangements with local, trustworthy photographers to handle school pictures. Lifetouch categorically denies anything untoward has happened. Lifetouch says absolutely no photos are ever forwarded to Apollo Global Management, nor is Lifetouch mentioned anywhere in any of the Jeffrey Epstein files circulating on the U.S. Department of Justice website.
Lifetouch CEO Ken Murphy said, “Lifetouch does not – and has never provided – images to any third party.” He added, “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 and therefore no one employed by Apollo has ever had access to any student images.”
That may well be the case, but Lifetouch being affiliated with Apollo Global Management most certainly raises red flags. We cannot see that affiliation remaining intact in the months, let alone weeks, ahead. Here’s more from Really Graceful.
