Tech Consultant Guilty in Murder of Cash App Founder

UPDATE Dec 17, 2024 12:18 PM CST

A tech consultant was found guilty Tuesday in the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee last year, reports the AP. Jurors convicted Nima Momeni of second-degree murder after seven days of deliberation. Prosecutors say Momeni killed Lee because the latter got Momeni's sister mixed up with a drug dealer. Momeni has claimed self-defense.

Oct 15, 2024 2:34 PM CDT

"Ladies and gentlemen, you are sitting in court with a murderer," Assistant District Attorney Omid Talai told the jury on the first day of the trial of the man accused of killing tech mogul Bob Lee. "Seated behind me is an individual and a coward who stabbed an unarmed man three times." Talai described Nima Momeni as an "overprotective, wannabe tough guy" who stabbed the Cash App founder under San Francisco's Bay Bridge last year because he suspected him of acting "inappropriately" with his sister, Khazar Momeni, ABC7 reports. Prosecutors played a recording of a 911 call in which Lee cried for help 47 times.

Momeni's lawyers admitted last month that he killed Lee on April 4 last year, but they have painted a very different picture of events, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Saam Zangeneh, an attorney for Momeni, said Monday that Lee had become aggressive after a long drug-fueled bender and Momeni "was forced to defend himself and stand his ground" after Lee pulled a knife, reports the AP. He said the defense can prove that Lee had only slept for around six of the previous 90 hours.

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Prosecutors, however, said Lee was "mellow, happy, and calm" in the hours before the stabbing. Talai said forensic testing showed that only Momeni's DNA was on the knife handle, while Lee's was on the blade, the Chronicle reports. The knife was taken from Momeni's sister's apartment, which both men were at before Momeni drove Lee to a secluded spot around 2am. Prosecutors said that after Lee died, he received a text from Khazar Momeni, who said she wanted to check he was OK because she knew "nima came wayyyyyy down hard on you." The trial is expected to last two months. (More Bob Lee stories.)