VC Masha Bucher, Epstein’s partner and founder of Day One, explains herself

Masha Bucher, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and founder of Day One Ventures, took to X this week to address news reports documenting her close work and personal relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The San Francisco Standard reported that Bucher’s name — under her maiden name, Masha Drukova — appeared in Epstein’s latest files more than 1,600 times.

“It made me feel like I could be safe from the system, someone with power and connections that could protect me” from threats linked to her home country of Russia, which she said she feared after receiving her US green card, she wrote in the post.

“I was naive, and I didn’t dig deep enough early on,” she wrote about why she agreed to work with Epstein. “His story that his previous conviction was for sleeping with a girl who lied about her age was believed and received credible confirmation from numerous investors and scientists.” It also apologized to its founders, team and investors, saying the situation “caused pain that I never intended.”

The files paint a picture of how Bucher — who began his career in Silicon Valley in social media and public relations — agreed to become Epstein’s publicist in 2017, helping rehabilitate his reputation after his sex trafficking conviction in 2008, and setting up meetings between him and several journalists, Forbes reported.

Documents show that Epstein supported and encouraged her in the early days of Day One Ventures. The firm has since grown significantly — as Bucher told TechCrunch, it closed its most recent fund, a $150 million third fund, in 2024, bringing its assets under management to $450 million.

Some of the more salacious details from the emails include Epstein giving her money and a Prada bag, and on one occasion, asking her for nude photos — though there is no indication if she complied — according to SFGate. Bucher is certainly one of the valley’s well-known venture capitalists, having backed leading companies like Superhuman, Remote, Worldcoin, and Truebill (which spun out to Rocket Companies in 2021), as well as others like Valar Atomics.

The whole episode is especially awkward for the venture capitalist whose entire pitch to the founders is that she’s a PR expert who can help them improve their public image. But this is not the first time Bucher has faced controversy.

When he was younger, Bucher was known in Russia as a member of Nashi, a pro-Putin youth group. In fact, she appeared in a 2012 documentary called “Putin’s Kiss” — named after the moment that went viral in the country when she kissed Putin’s cheek — as CNN reported.

In her X post, she said she had since given up her Russian passport, publicly denounced Putin, and met some of Epstein’s victims.

She’s certainly not the only venture capitalist whose name has been found in Epstein’s files, which isn’t surprising given how connected he is to some of the biggest names in tech. The documents do not indicate that Boucher violated the laws. However, she was engaged in a friendly correspondence with Epstein until just 11 days before his arrest in July 2019, Forbes reported. Epstein died in prison about a month later.