ELKINS — Several local county school systems have acknowledged using the photography giant Lifetouch, which in widespread social media posts has been linked to a billionaire with ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

Controversy began after online posts linked Lifetouch, which photographs millions of students each year, to the investment fund manager Apollo Global Management. Apollo’s former CEO is billionaire investor Leon Black, who met regularly with Epstein and was advised by Epstein on financial matters.

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 by suicide behind bars as he awaited trial over allegations from federal prosecutors that he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of girls.

Both the Barbour and Tucker county school systems have used Lifetouch’s school photography services in the past, officials told The Inter-Mountain.

A Tucker County Board of Education representative said the school system will continue to use Lifetouch for school photos, but not for senior photos.

Barbour County Schools officials will need to collect more information before moving forward with the company, Barbour County Schools Superintendent Eddie Vincent said.

“I want to make sure we are doing everything we can do to protect our kids,” Vincent told The Inter-Mountain. “I don’t know enough about the situation yet and we certainly are not going to use them (Lifetouch) until I get enough information to know that we are safe.”

A Randolph County Schools representative told The Inter-Mountain that each school in the county chooses the company to take its school photos, and in the past the schools have used a local photographer for photos and portrait work.

The Upshur County Schools system, like Randolph, has used a local photo company for many years and will continue to use the same company for school photos and portraits moving forward, a BOE representative told The Inter-Mountain.

Multiple school districts in West Virginia have issued statements about the use of Lifetouch, including Monongalia, Marion and Wood counties. A group in Harrison County posted a petition on Facebook calling for a boycott of the company.

Both Lifetouch and Apollo have released statements saying that neither Black nor any of Apollo’s directors or investors ever had any access to Lifetouch photos.