Jessica VerSteeg (born on September 14, 1987) is an American Entrepreneur and Model based in San Francisco. VerSteeg was crowned Miss Iowa in 2014. ^[1]

Jessica grew up in Oskaloosa, Iowa and is a graduate of Midwest City High School. ^[7] Starting in 2010, Jessica began modeling around the world and was represented by a variety of agencies including Elite Model Management, Directions, CGM, Base Models, Major Model Management, Look Model Agency. VerSteeg has been based in Miami, North Carolina, South Africa, New York City, and San Francisco.

While in San Francisco, Jessica founded the luxury medical cannabis subscription service, AuBox, in December 2014. Two and a half years later, she founded Paragon, a decentralized platform for payments in the cannabis businesses. The company is backed by her husband, Egor Lavrov, a millionaire.^[1][17] The ICO raised $12 million in support of its token, which was linked to a blockchain platform for the cannabis industry.^[18][20]

Jessica and her husband were sued by investors who lost money in their $12 million ICO for Paragon.

Jessica and her husband failed to appear in court or to respond to the claims laid against them.

An earlier decision of a court in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California said that buyers of the token could form a class to pursue a class-action lawsuit against Paragon, amid allegations the ICO was an illegal securities offering. The former attorney for the defendants, Donald Enright, withdrawing as counsel, said though he hadn’t heard from VerSteeg or Lavrov “in years,” the case was far from over. ^[18]

A Forbes article in 2018 said Paragon Space had been due to launch on September 1. “Paragon offers everything from a cryptocurrency (ParagonCoin, traded as PRG) to a blockchain solution (ParagonChain) designed to expedite and digitize the marijuana supply chain. Now, VerSteeg’s latest venture is Paragon Space, Los Angeles' first cannabis co-working space set to open on September 1.” ^[18]

However, the timescale was interrupted by legal action from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in connection with the ICO, with investors still yet to see the return of their funds.^[18]

Except for Versteeg and Lavrov, the defendants listed in court documents also include a hip-hop star.

Jayceon Terrell Taylor, aka The Game, who promoted the Paragon ICO on social media, was also named in the suit. Also named are technologists Eugene Bogorad, Alex Emelichev, Gareth Rhodes, and Vadym Kurylovich.^[20]

One of Paragon’s early contributors, who spoke with CoinDesk on condition of anonymity, said he’s not concerned about future lawsuits because the team already obeyed the SEC by paying a penalty fee. It’s unclear whether the full fee was paid because, as of November 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported the Paragon team missed some of the deadlines to pay these fines.^[20]

VerSteeg and Lavrov haven’t been heard from since 2019.

“As far I know, Egor is not responding to any messages and that’s all I know,” Bogorad, the project’s former chief strategy officer said, having only heard about legal trouble through the press. “I went back to Moscow. October 2017 was the last time I saw him. We were actually asking him [in 2018] about our tokens.”^[20]

The couple was still promoting Paragon throughout 2018, although they were rarely responsive to their former colleagues.

The SEC fined the entrepreneurs in early 2019.

Most of the couple’s old websites and social media accounts haven’t been active since mid-2019, when they posted on Instagram in July from Kiev, Ukraine.^[20]

“I think they’re together and disappeared together,” Bogorad said.

“Last we heard from them they were visiting the development team near Kiev.”^[20]

Jessica is married to Egor Lavrov, a Russian technocrat.^{[17] [6]}

VerSteeg has also competed in season 28 of The Amazing Race alongside popular social media stars Darius Benson and Tyler Oakley.^[16]