Topline
Cash App founder Bob Lee reportedly fought with murder suspect Nima Momeni about Momeni’s sister hours before Lee’s death, according to court documents obtained by NBC News Friday, as more details emerge about the alleged assailant and the bizarre killing that has captivated the country.
The suspect who allegedly murdered Cash App founder Bob Lee reportedly got into a fight with him … [+]
Key Facts
Momeni had been driving Lee on the night of April 4 when an argument broke out between them, prompting Momeni to take Lee to a remote area of downtown San Francisco, where he allegedly stabbed him three times with a kitchen knife, puncturing Lee’s heart, according to court documents obtained by NBC News.
After the fight, Momeni’s sister texted Lee asking if he was “ok,” saying “Nima came wayyyyyy down hard on you,” NBC reported.
In his first court appearance since his arrest Friday morning, Momeni appeared to gesture a heart sign at his sister, Khazar Momeni, who made a heart sign back at him, Fox affiliate KTVU reported.
Momeni, who was arrested Thursday morning and booked on suspicion of murder, is the owner of a San Francisco Bay-area information technology consulting company called ExpandIT, which he joined in 2010 after holding multiple consulting and systems engineering positions, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Lee is believed to have known Momeni, a University of California, Berkeley, graduate, San Francisco police told Mission Local, saying the murder is not believed to be neither a “robbery attempt nor a random attack.”
Police said Thursday Momeni lives in the town of Emeryville, California—just north of Oakland—where a neighbor told the Daily Beast he kept multiple knives and guns and was “super into weapons.”
Another neighbor told Forbes Momeni texted them asking for “all your alcohol” on the night after he allegedly killed Lee, and days later asked them to go on a trip to Colombia, while another person who claims to be a longtime family friend of Momeni’s told Forbes he had a history of working long nights, but said they “cannot see him as a violent person.”
Momeni’s attorney, Robert Canny, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.
News Peg
Police arrested Momeni at his home around 5 a.m. Thursday morning. He was booked at San Francisco County Jail on murder charges, with an enhancement for committing the crime with a knife, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said at a press conference Thursday. According to police records, Momeni had been driving with Lee through San Francisco when an argument broke out that carried outside the vehicle, when police say Momeni stabbed Lee multiple times. Police recovered the knife they claim he used near the crime scene.
What To Watch For
Momeni is slated to be arraigned on April 25, after he declined to enter a plea Friday morning when he appeared before a Superior Court Judge in San Francisco. He is being held without bail.
Key Background
Lee, 43, was an executive at cryptocurrency startup MobileCoin at the time of his death. He founded Cash App in 2013 while he was working at former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s online payment company Square (now Block). He had reportedly been visiting San Francisco when police say Momeni stabbed him near the Bay Bridge. He was taken to the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead from his stab wounds. His death generated an outpouring of support from tech executives, including MobileCoin founder Joshua Goldbard, who described him as having “infectious energy” with the “capacity to dream big and to summon those big crazy dreams into our world.”
Further Reading
Who Is Nima Momeni—Suspect Arrested In Killing Of Cash App Founder Bob Lee (Forbes)
Tech Executive Reportedly Arrested Over Fatal Stabbing Of Cash App Creator Bob Lee (Forbes)
Cash App Creator Bob Lee Dead After Stabbing In San Francisco (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/04/14/bob-lee-and-nima-momeni-reportedly-fought-over-suspects-sister/