DOJ files suggest ex-Polygon PR head recruited for Epstein
Emails released in the Epstein files appear to show Masha Prusso referring to herself as his “Paris-based Ghislaine”
Documents released as part of the Epstein files appear to show that the founder of a crypto public relations firm and former head of PR and events at Polygon procured women for convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and sought his help breaking into the tech industry in San Francisco.
The tranche of emails, which date from 2011 to 2019, suggest that Maria “Masha” Prusakova, who now goes by Masha Prusso, repeatedly recruited women for Epstein, arranged meetings, and sent photographs and résumés for “assistants”, while also asking him for advice on her schooling and ventures.
There is no evidence in the files that the women she referred were underage. Epstein, in turn, paid for aspects of her education, including studies and accommodation at UC Berkeley.
Prusso is a qualified attorney and former Olympic athlete who, before entering crypto, worked for UBS, HSBC and several law firms, including global firm Clifford Chance.
“Sometimes I think that I am your Paris-based Ghislaine Maxwell, haha,” Prusso wrote in one exchange in 2013. “BUT: if you intend to play with these girls, please be cautious and don’t involve me in it. I want to keep a good impression of myself in front of these friends and not be called ‘a pimp.’ You see what I mean.”
Epstein victimised more than a thousand women and girls over decades while operating in elite social circles that saw him interact with the likes of Bill Gates, the Clintons and Donald Trump. He pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor but received just 13 months and was permitted during that time to leave prison for up to 12 hours a day. After his 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges, he died in jail. His cause of death was listed as suicide.
Reporting and court records have detailed a network of women around him who recruited for him from their own social circles, including British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, now imprisoned in the U.S. for her role in facilitating Epstein’s crimes. The latest document drop also appears to show the late British model Annabelle Neilson helped him find victims. Four women were also given immunity for their role in recruiting underage girls to him as part of his 2008 plea deal.
Those victimised by Epstein were also encouraged to bring their friends and others into his fold, enticed by money and other benefits. In her book Nobody’s Girl, the late Virginia Guiffre recounted recruiting others to give Epstein “massages” while also suffering horrific abuse at his hands.
A lawyer for Prusso would not address the contents of the emails when approached by Scamurai and said Prusso was a “victim” whose name had been inadvertently published in the files and since redacted. While her name is redacted in some places, in others it is not. Her lawyer did not respond to multiple further requests for further clarification.
Epstein’s crypto links
Prusso is one of several figures in crypto found to have links to Epstein. The Justice Department released millions of pages of Epstein-related documents earlier in January that offered a fresh view of the financier’s reach into the industry, including investments and introductions connected to early crypto companies, among them Coinbase and Blockstream. The disclosures have renewed scrutiny of how Epstein sought influence in emerging technology sectors through personal relationships and capital.
Prusso’s correspondence with Epstein began around 2011, when she was about 21. It is not clear how she met him.
Emails suggest she was aware of Epstein’s prior conviction. “As you asked I googled you,” she wrote. “Well, maybe your passion is young girls as snowboarding is mine. I’m not scared anyway.” The pair discussed meeting in Europe and her studies.
By November, she began recruiting women for him. In some cases, it is overt that they were being solicited for sex, in others she found him “assistants,” who were required to be young, female and attractive.
“What would you like me to bring you from Sweden? Except for girls?” she asked. In subsequent messages, she described how being with Epstein boosted a woman’s confidence, calling him “an antishyness doctor.”
“She is small with big boobs. Very caring, extremely kind person,” she wrote of one candidate. Epstein responded with preferences and rejections, at times criticizing tattoos or saying a candidate was “not cute.”
“Four French girls”
In 2012 and 2013, Prusso arranged multiple group meetings, telling Epstein that “three cute and smart friends” or “four French girls” were eager to meet him.
In 2015, she wrote reassuringly to Epstein after negative press coverage in the UK, dismissing reports as jealousy. “Jeffrey are you all right? I saw some stupid press in UK magazines abt you and Andrew. Hope you are fine and don’t care what jealous/envious people say, my smartest superstar!” she said.
In 2016, she discussed how to build trust with women hesitant about giving him “massages.”
“She sounds like she liked you a lot and wished to see you some evening again. Re massage she hesitates but doesn’t say no. I think you need to build trust first and make her like you a lot. Then massage is also possible,” she told him in March that year.
Later exchanges grew more transactional. In 2017, he complained she had sent candidates who were too old, taking umbrage at one who had been 28.
Prusso began trying to recruit for him online. In one message, she explains that websites rejected her ads because they discriminated against men and anyone over 24, and that she had turned to targeted Facebook advertising. “I keep on hunting at bars when I have a moment from work. All my friends have already been interviewed by you,” she wrote. “But somehow no one is good enough.”
“Many of our ads are simply not accepted because there is no website or official email address. Monster and other websites with big audience ask a lot to put an ad,” she added.
“I also write personal messages to models from model agencies in NY and Paris about the job, hoping someone is interested. Maybe I open my HR agency, it is an interesting business!” she added before asking for help paying for her housing.
Silicon Valley
She continued sending candidates CVs to him into late 2017 and 2018, including one belonging to a 20-year-old, while also asking Epstein for career advice as she struggled to find work in San Francisco. “Feel rather lost here,” she wrote, describing competition with venture capital principals and her pivot toward PR work in tech.
Epstein became frustrated and complained in May 2017 that “you need to work harder on this project, no real candidates in two weeks. Not good.”
She told him she would find a new strategy to recruit. “None of the non-paid job advertisement website that I tried allows to put an ad with no valid website of the company that is hiring,” she said.
“My father promised to help me to get girls in Russia. But their English might not be so good. I will work on right channels with him once I am done with my other priorities. Just give me some time.”
That same year, she wrote to him about her new job. “I started one month ago to help Masha Drokova with her businesses. I have not found any startups she wants to invest in but am better with PR, her other business… I love having such a live successful example of an entrepreneur close to me,” she gushed.
Masha Drokova, who now goes by her married name of Masha Bucher, is a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and the founder of Day One Ventures, an early backer of Elon Musk’s xAI and Sam Altman’s World (formerly Worldcoin). Russian by origin, she was the subject of 2011 documentary called Putin’s Kiss that detailed her rise through the ranks of pro-Prutin youth movement Nashi, her meeting with him and her eventual disillusionment with the regime. However, she has faced accusations of being a Russian asset.
Her name appears over 1,600 times in the Epstein files, including in messages showing she acted as Epstein’s publicist for two years. In 2017, she asked him for introductions to Russian oligarchs interested in investing in her fund.
She addressed the emails on X earlier this week – though her account is protected – saying she had been “naive” and “fuck Epstein”.
Prusso appeared to have also been interested in helping Epstein with publicity as well. In July 2018, she suggested Epstein hire a firm to improve his online image. “Thought about you and all the things they say about you on google search. there is a way to get rid of it. did you try?” she said, sending him a link.
Then she moved into crypto. She and a partner launched Crypto PR Lab and the two began pitching Epstein for advice, sharing draft decks and discussing hosting an event around Davos. Emails show discussions about potential angel investments and introductions to a crypto-focused banking venture called Medici Bank.
Medici Bank takes its name from its owner, “Prince” Lorenzo de’Medici, an Italian-Polish businessman. De’Medici claims descent from the famous Florentine banking dynasty, the main branch of which died with Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici in 1743. The origin of his “prince” title is not clear. Aristocratic titles have not been recognised in Italy since 1948 (though are sometimes used unofficially). De’Medici and Ed Boyle launched the bank in Puerto Rico in 2019. It doesn’t seem to have any online banking services on its one-page website and a 2024 press release lists Boyle, the CEO, as its press contact, suggesting it is a very small operation.
Prusso also became a general partner at Story VC, a firm investing in early-stage blockchain companies — including Star Atlas, Casper Labs and Plasma Finance — and later served as head of PR and then head of events at Polygon between 2021 and 2022. She is also a partner for a company offering “VIP concierge services” at Davos. In 2022, she spent five months as the head of PR for Waves Labs, and six months as a consultant at Ankr.
In 2021, she co-launched Defy Trends with three other women, and wrote articles about the need to promote women in Web3. Following the release of the Epstein documents, Prusso deleted several online profiles, including her LinkedIn page and personal website. Some have since been restored.
Her correspondence with Epstein continued up to his arrest. Prusso messaged him recounting how an acquaintance, whose name was redacted, had stopped talking to her because she had advertised personal assistant positions for Epstein, accusing her of “willingly and knowingly, indirectly, putting girls in danger.”
“It made me think that I was very stupid and you didn’t tell me about my stupidity here. Also I have the most horrible reputation in Zurich, UBS and other Swiss circles, because I asked some people for connections to PAs,” she said.
“Anyway...it was a price to pay for Berkeley I guess. And I don’t judge or complain. Hire me as a lawyer/paralegal at some point - way better than supplying you ladies. Are u in NY 25-30 July?”
Epstein responded that her concerns were “nonsense.”
The following day she contacted Epstein after seeing he had been arrested on the news. “Are you home ? You were not taken anywhere ? What they mean by arrest?” She asked.
“Interesting... i didnt know abt NJ arrest (did it happen at all?) and just thought of you and how you were doing,” she added, before changing topics and suggesting he try ayahuasca.
He didn’t reply. Prusso sent one final message, three days later. “Jeffrey,” she said. “Im worried how are you?”
It was left unread.
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