Masha Drokova

Drokova joined Nashi at approximately age 16 and became one of its most visible figures. Nashi (Nashi, “Ours”) was a Kremlin-sponsored youth organization established in 2005 under the direction of Vladislav Surkov, Putin’s chief political technologist ¹. She received a state medal directly from Putin, an event documented on film. Following the November 2010 attack on journalist Oleg Kashin — a critic of Nashi whose assailants were widely believed to have ties to the movement — Drokova distanced herself from the organization. She subsequently relocated to the United States and established herself as a technology entrepreneur and venture capitalist ¹. Her trajectory from Kremlin youth politics to Silicon Valley is documented in the 2012 Sundance documentary Putin’s Kiss, which captured the period of her departure from Nashi.

Review of DOJ records indicates that Drokova was introduced to Jeffrey Epstein in March 2017 via an email describing her as a “Wonderlady” and referencing her Forbes 30-under-30 recognition and the Putin’s Kiss documentary ^{7 8}. By May 2017 she was confirmed for scheduled appointments at 9 East 71st Street ⁹. Over the following two years she met Epstein at least eight times, communicated via Skype handle “mashadrokova,” and appears in 1,627 documents in the DOJ evidence corpus and approximately 1,992 appearances in the broader EpsteinExposed document set ².

Drokova arranged press coverage for Epstein at Forbes, Business Insider, and Nature, scheduled journalist introductions through Lesley Groff, and personally attended at least one journalist meeting (the September 2017 Futurism interview with Alex Klokus) ³. In June 2019 — weeks before Epstein’s arrest — Groff’s calendar showed “9:30am Appt w/ Zoe Bernard (Masha Drokova’s friend)” ¹⁰; Bernard was then a reporter at The Information ³. Drokova also introduced Serguei Beloussov to Epstein on January 12, 2018, describing both as “the most intelligent and fun people I met in my life” who share an interest in quantum technology ^{11 2}. Beloussov is co-founder of QWAVE Capital alongside Serguei Kouzmine, a firm for which Drokova also served as publicist Connection #2557, Connection #2536.

Financial transfers from Epstein entities to Drokova included reimbursement of USD 7,027.48 for a Four Seasons Palm Beach stay (December 25–27, 2017, per EFTA00300259), a Prada handbag, and USD 25,000 Connection #512. Examination of the DOJ email corpus shows Drokova writing to Epstein: “I would never create my fund without the ideas and knowledge you shared with me” ⁴. According to media analysis of DOJ documents, in December 2018 Epstein told Drokova he had confessed to someone that “a really bad guy that gets children for sex sent to his island” was “me.” Review of the records shows no indication that Drokova reported this disclosure or reduced contact; communication continued until eleven days before his July 2019 arrest, at which point Epstein had recently requested nude photographs from her ⁴.

Drokova also advised Ghislaine Maxwell’s TerraMar Project and co-founded the WE Talks webinar series with Lana Pozhidaeva (Epstein’s assistant and girlfriend), using trademark paperwork prepared by Epstein’s lawyer Connection #515.

In December 2017, following Epstein’s meeting with Peter Thiel, Drokova queried Epstein directly about anticipated US sanctions against technology companies with Russian R&D operations. Her message read: “I have heard of coming wave of sanctions against tech companies with R and D in Russia. How can I find out details about that? I think you may know actual thing not just guess” ¹². She specified that the companies she was concerned about were not government-affiliated and that her friends and partners were large shareholders ¹³. Epstein, per the email record, had just received Thiel’s views on Russia and relayed them to Drokova.

This exchange occurred during the same period Drokova was serving as publicist for QWAVE Capital (co-founded by Serguei Kouzmine and Serguei Beloussov) and Runa Capital, both Russian-origin deep-technology investment vehicles ⁶. Kouzmine later became President of Beloussov’s Constructor University in 2025. The FBI memo ⁵ places Drokova in the Transnational Organized Crime Eastern Hemisphere portfolio, identifying her by these publicist roles alongside the Epstein connection ⁶.

An April 2025 FBI document ⁵¹⁴ discloses that Drokova is under active investigation by Washington Field Office Squad CR05, Transnational Organized Crime (Eastern Hemisphere), designated Operation Trip Knot. The memo identifies her as former Nashi youth movement leader (“Putin’s Kiss”), Epstein’s publicist 2017–2019, and publicist for QWAVE Capital and Runa Capital ⁶. The same document references a parallel figure — Frank Creer, CEO of Draper Hero Institute — described as running an Epstein-adjacent operation through a venue called Sanctum and channeling money through QWAVE Capital to gain access to politicians ⁶.

According to a synthesis of DOJ and FBI records, Drokova obtained Kyrgyz citizenship in December 2022 and, as of the FBI memo, resides in Switzerland ¹⁵⁶. Day One Ventures Fund III LP filed Form D with the SEC in April 2025 (CIK 0002009720), indicating ongoing US fundraising activity concurrent with the federal investigation ¹.

Examination of the DOJ email corpus indicates that Drokova’s public account of the Epstein relationship — a single meeting, unpaid, as a personal favor — is contradicted by 1,627 DOJ document appearances, financial transfers, journalist introductions, and her own written acknowledgment of Epstein’s role in the founding of Day One Ventures ⁴².