A San Francisco jury has found a tech consultant guilty of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of a Cash App founder, which carries a sentence of 16 years to life. The case had captured the imagination – and ire – of the tech world.
Nima Momeni was charged with murder in the first degree, but jurors found him guilty of murder in the second degree. Momeni, 40, has been in custody since his arrest in April 2023.
Jurors took seven days to deliver their verdict against Momeni in the 4 April 2023 death of Bob Lee, a tech mogul who was found staggering on a deserted downtown street, dripping a trail of blood and calling for help. Lee, 43, later died at a hospital.
The case at first shocked San Francisco, spurring Elon Musk and others to lambast city officials. They accused city leaders of allowing lawlessness and random violence, reigniting a longstanding debate about the safety of the streets in San Francisco. Then the personal feud behind the murder came to light.
Prosecutors said Momeni planned the attack on Lee, driving him to an isolated spot under the Bay Bridge, stabbing him three times with a knife taken from his sister’s kitchen and then leaving him to die. The bloody knife was recovered from the scene. They said Momeni was angry with Lee for introducing his younger sister, Khazar Elyassnia, to a drug dealer she said gave her GHB and other drugs and then sexually assaulted her.
Lee and Elyassnia visited the drug dealer’s home together before the fatal encounter between Lee and Momeni, the San Francisco Standard reported.
But Momeni testified on the stand that Lee was the one who attacked him with a knife, alleging the CEO was angry after the tech consultant chided him about spending more time with his family instead of searching for a strip club that night. Momeni, who studies martial arts, claimed self-defense and said he did not realize he had fatally wounded Lee or that Lee was even hurt.
Police released little news about the case as they investigated, creating an information void that tech leaders filled with conjecture and opinion. As information about Momeni’s motive became public, however, it became clear the attack arose from his personal history with Lee.
Jurors had received the case, which started 14 October, on 4 December.
In a 2023 press release announcing a murder charge against Momeni, the office of Brooke Jenkins, the district attorney, said he faced 26 years to life in prison if convicted.
Lee had created the mobile payment service Cash App and was the chief product officer of the cryptocurrency MobileCoin when he died. He had moved to Miami from the San Francisco Bay Area, where his ex-wife, Krista Lee, lives with their two children.
