IT Consultant Found Guilty of Killing Cash App Founder

A California IT consultant was convicted Tuesday, Dec. 17 of fatally stabbing tech executive Bob Lee in San Francisco.

Nima Momeni, 40, was found guilty of second-degree murder in the 2023 slaying of Lee, the founder of the money transfer service Cash App.

Momeni was acquitted of first-degree murder by a San Francisco jury, which deliberated for a week, the Associated Press reported.

““We’re happy that Nima Momeni will not be on the streets, he no longer has the opportunity to harm anybody else in this world,” Lee’s brother, Tim Oliver Lee, told reporters after the verdict, per AP. “We think justice was done here today.”

The 43-year-old father of two called 911 for help before he was found fatally stabbed in the heart and lung on April 4 at 2:35 a.m. on a sidewalk in the Rincon Hill area of San Francisco. He later died at a local hospital.

Lee, who had recently moved to Miami, was in San Francisco attending a party in a condo in the Millennium Tower, the New York Times reported.

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During the trial, prosecutors portrayed Momeni as furious with Lee after he connected Momeni’s sister with a man who gave her drugs and sexually assaulted her, per AP.

On the morning of the killing, Lee and Momeni were allegedly captured on surveillance footage driving to a dark and secluded area of San Francisco following an argument. They were later seen standing on a sidewalk in the Rincon Hill neighborhood where Lee was stabbed.

On the stand, Momeni contended Lee pulled a knife on him after questioning Lee’s parenting skills, AP reported. Momeni claimed a struggle over the knife ensued and he didn’t realize that he had stabbed Lee, only learning of his death the following day.

“If it were my last night in town, I’d be hanging out with my family not (expletive) around in strip clubs,” Momeni testified during the trial, per ABC7. The jury was not persuaded by Momeni’s self-defense argument.

Momeni was allegedly captured on video leaving the area in a vehicle at a high rate of speed.