Pedophilia campaigner Masha Allen, now 20, files $20m lawsuit 10 years after she was rescued from stepfather who shared hundreds of images of her horrific sex abuse over the internet

Masha Allen suffered years of horrifying sexual abuse at the hands of her wealthy adoptive father and is now suing him and 13 other pedophiles who include doctors and lawyers in a $20,000,000 lawsuit filed on Friday.



Originally from Russia, Allen was adopted at the age of five in 1998 by an unmarried Pittsburgh businessman, Matthew Mancuso who proceeded to rape and post sickening images of her online for five years.



Rescued in 2003 after a national police investigation into internet pedophiles, Allen decided to go public with her story and Congress eventually passed 'Masha's Law' to give victims the right to sue anyone caught with their images associated with child pornography.

New Civil Lawsuit: Masha Allen testifies on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, May 3, 2006 before the Congressional Oversight and Investigations subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee

Allen, who is now 20-years old intends to do that and in a federal suit filed in Philadelphia on Friday, the victim names Mancuso and 13 other men all convicted of possessing or transmitting her images online.



According to the federal law in her name, Allen is entitled to a minimum payout of $150,000 from each man.



'It sort of brings things full circle in that sense, for her to get the justice that she went out there and helped other people get,' said her lawyer, Leighton Moore, to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Indeed, Allen could be looking at a total payout in the region of $100 million as the lawsuits against the almost 2,000 men caught with her images grow.



Allen and her legal team are able to keep track of who has accessed the despicable images of her online because the U.S. Justice Department sends them a notice every time someone is caught.



However, the issue for Allen and her team is that men convicted of child pornography charges are already in financial ruins by the time their criminal cases are over.

Filing $20 million Lawsuit: Masha Allen, ,left, looks on as CNN anchorwoman Nancy Grace testifies on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, before the Congressional Oversight and Investigations subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee

'These are the types of people who aren't motivated to settle - or even defend - a lawsuit,' said Steven J. Kelly, a Baltimore lawyer who filed a Masha's Law claim earlier this year against more than 80 men for two sisters who were aged seven and nine.



However, Allen's legal team have chosen their first 14 defendants wisely, they are professionals, such as doctors and lawyers and Mancuso, because they have money.



Mancuso, 55, was divorced and independently wealthy when he traveled to Russia 15 years ago to adopt Allen and then embarked on five years of abuse against her which included taking pictures of her in Disney World and spreading them online.

In an interview with ABC News eight-years-ago, when she first came forward, Allen said she knew there was something strange about Mancuso when he adopted her.

The 2006 "Masha's Law" is named for Masha Allen, a Russian orphan adopted at age 5 by divorced Pittsburgh millionaire Matthew Mancuso (pictured). He's in prison for making pornographic images of her that were widely distributed online

'I remember asking him if I was gonna get a mother, and he'd say that he wasn't married, and that he didn't think I would,' she said.



Her nightmare began on her first night when he told her to get into his bed and then proceeded to rape her repeatedly.



He then began to take explicit photographs which he placed online for his secret community of internet pedophiles.



'I'd make myself think of other things when it was happening,' she said. 'But it always came back to me -- couldn't stop it.'



Her rescue began when Chicago Police Sergeant Mike Zaglifa, who had been posing as a pedophile online noticed a new batch of child pornography appear - which was Allen.



He struck up an online conversation with a child pedophile with the handle, 'NkdSister' and realized as a gut feeling that this individual might be the source of Allen's graphic imagery.



Sgt. Zaglifa informed the FBI and on May 27th, 2003, two federal agents went to Mancuso's Pittsburgh home to investigate.



Immediately, the agents knew that Mancuso was not happy to see them and they separated Allen from her adoptive father.



The agents quickly found computer disks with child pornography and then suddenly, 10-year-old Allen asked the agents, 'Is this about my secret?'

Masha Allen is now 20 and has changed her name to regain some measure of privacy after testifying in Congress (pictured in 2006). She filed the federal lawsuit Friday in Philadelphia under the name Jane Doe

Indeed, after Mancuso's arrest it was discovered that Allen was not his first victim.



That unfortunate title belonged to his 28-year-old daughter, Rachelle.



'I feel so much guilt for what happened. When I first found out that he adopted a little girl I should have spoke up, I should have said something. I feel somehow responsible,' Rachelle said to ABC News in 2005.



Mancuso pleaded guilty to producing child pornography and was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison from which he will be freed and then begin serving a state prison term in Pennsylvania for child rape.



The other 13 defendants are also in prison, serving time for child pornography.



For Allen, her rescue allowed her to move to Georgia with a new adoptive mother and to promote her campaign for her eponymous law.

