VC Masha Bucher, Epstein associate and Day One founder, explains herself

Source: TechCrunch

Masha Bucher, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and founder of Day One Ventures, addressed recent reports about her close business and personal relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in a post on X this week. Her name—primarily under her maiden name, Masha Drokova—appeared over 1,600 times in the latest dump of Epstein files, according to The San Francisco Standard (link).

Background

• Bucher’s Silicon Valley career began in social media and public relations.
• In 2017 she agreed to become Epstein’s publicist, helping rehabilitate his reputation after his 2008 sex‑trafficking conviction and arranging meetings between him and journalists (Forbes).
• The documents show Epstein supported and encouraged her in the early days of Day One Ventures.

Day One Ventures

• The firm closed its most recent fund—a $150 million third vehicle—in 2024, bringing assets under management to $450 million (TechCrunch).
• Portfolio highlights include Superhuman, Remote, Worldcoin, Truebill (exited to Rocket Companies in 2021) (TechCrunch), and Valar Atomics (CNBC).

Relationship with Epstein

• In her X post, Bucher wrote that Epstein made her feel “safe from the regime” and protected her from perceived threats linked to her home country, Russia.
• She described herself as “naive” and said she did not dig deep enough early on, believing Epstein’s story about his earlier conviction involving a girl who lied about her age.
• Bucher apologized to founders, team members, and investors for the pain caused by the situation.

Salacious details from the leaked emails

• Epstein gave Bucher money and a Prada bag.
• On one occasion he asked her for nude photos; there is no indication whether she complied (SFGate).

Earlier Controversies

• As a teenager in Russia, Bucher was a member of Nashi, a pro‑Putin youth group, and appeared in the 2012 documentary “Putin’s Kiss,” which featured a widely circulated moment of her kissing Vladimir Putin’s cheek (CNN).
• She later renounced her Russian passport, publicly denounced Putin, and said she has met with some of Epstein’s victims.

Broader Context

• Bucher is not the only venture capitalist whose name appears in the Epstein files; many prominent tech figures are listed (CNBC).
• The documents do not indicate that Bucher broke any laws, but she maintained friendly correspondence with Epstein until 11 days before his arrest in July 2019, according to Forbes. Epstein died in jail roughly one month later.