Masha Bucher, a Silicon Valley VC and founder of Day One Ventures, taken by X this week to address news reports documenting her close business and personal relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Bucher’s name — first under her maiden name, Masha Drokova — appeared in the latest dump of the Epstein files more than 1,600 times, The San Francisco Standard reports.

“He made me feel safe from the regime, someone with power and connections who could protect me” from the threats he faced in his home country of Russia, which he said he feared after he got his US green card, he wrote in the post.

“I was naive; I didn’t dig deep enough earlier,” she wrote about why she agreed to work with Epstein. “I believe in his story that his first conviction was about sleeping with a girl who lied about her age and relied on validations from several investors and scientists.” He also apologized to his founders, team, and investors, saying that this situation “caused me pain that I didn’t mean.”

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

The documents show that Epstein supported and encouraged him in the early days of Day One Ventures. The company has since grown significantly – says Bucher told TechCrunchit closed its most recent fund, a $150 million third vehicle, in 2024, bringing its assets under management to $450 million.

Some of the most salacious details from the emails include Epstein giving her money and a Prada bag, and at one point, asking her for nude photos — though there’s no indication if she complied — according to SFGate. Bucher is certainly a well-known VC in the Valley, having backed breakout companies like Superhuman, Remote, Worldcoin, and Truebill (which came out of Rocket Companies in 2021), as well as other preferences Valar Atomics.

The whole episode was a particularly awkward one for a VC whose whole The founders spiel is that he is a PR expert who can help them with their public image. But this isn’t Bucher’s first run-in with controversy.

As a child, Bucher became known in Russia as a member of Nashi, a pro-Putin youth group. In fact, he was featured in a 2012 documentary called “Putin’s Kiss” — named for the widely publicized moment in the country when he kissed Putin on the cheek — as reported by CNN.

In his X post, he said that since giving up his Russian passport, he has publicly criticized Putin, and met with some of Epstein’s victims.

He is certainly not the only VC whose name was found in the Epstein files, which is not surprising given how he is connected to some of the biggest names in tech. The documents do not show that Bucher broke any laws. However, he engaged in friendly correspondence with Epstein until 11 days before his arrest in July 2019, Forbes reported. Epstein died in prison about a month later.