Tech entrepreneur stabbed Cash App founder Bob Lee after confronting him about sister: prosecutors
Murder suspect Nima Momeni ran his own tech company, called Expand IT, based out of Emeryville, according to his LinkedIn
SAN FRANCISCO -- A fellow tech executive killed 43-year-old Cash App founder Bob Lee earlier this month with a kitchen knife after driving him to a secluded area, prosecutors said in a court filing Friday.
Police arrested the suspect on Thursday and identified him as Nima Momeni, 38, who appears to be the owner of an Emeryville, California-based company called Expand IT.
In a motion filed on Friday to hold Momeni without bail, prosecutors offered new details about the events leading up to the alleged murder.
Lee, an executive at cryptocurrency firm MobileCoin, was killed in the early morning hours on April 4 in the San Francisco neighborhood of Rincon Hill, the San Francisco Police Department said last week.
During the previous afternoon, Lee spent time with Momeni's sister and a witness, who identified him or herself as a close friend of Lee, prosecutors said.
Later in the day, at Lee's hotel room, he had a conversation with Momeni in which he asked Lee about whether his sister was "doing drugs or anything inappropriate," the witness told the police, according to the document.
Lee reassured Momeni that nothing inappropriate had taken place, the witness said to police.
Early the following morning, at about 2 a.m., camera footage showed Lee and Momeni leaving Lee's hotel and getting into Momeni's car, a BMW Z4, prosecutors said.
Video shows the BMW drive to a secluded and dark area where the two men got out of the car. Momeni "moved toward" Lee and the BMW drove away from the scene at high speed, according to the court document.
Police later found a roughly 4-inch blade at the scene that appeared to have blood on it, the document said.
The doctor who conducted the autopsy found that Lee had been stabbed three times, including one strike that penetrated his heart, the document said.
"Mr. Momeni was taken into custody without incident in Emeryville and transported to San Francisco County jail and booked on a charge of murder," San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said at a briefing on Thursday. "Our investigators have been working tirelessly to make this arrest."
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins on Thursday applauded the efforts of the SFPD.
"While in some cases we do immediately have as suspect, that was not the situation here," she said. "Mr. Lee's killer has been identified, arrested, and now will be brought to justice."
"He positively affected millions of people throughout his life. He had an overarching need to make technology accessible, and to help out everyone," Bob Lee's brother Timothy Oliver Lee said in a statement Thursday. "Bob's dream was to make technology free and available."
"Every day around the world, people interact with technology that Bob helped create. Bob will live on through these interactions and his dreams of improving all of our lives," Timothy Oliver Lee's statement continued. "As a family, we're very thankful to the hard working Detectives at the SFPD for bringing his killer to Justice."
London Breed, the mayor of San Francisco, said in a statement to ABC News last week that Lee's death marks a "horrible tragedy."
Who is Nima Momeni?
Momeni was arrested about eight and a half miles away from San Francisco, on the other side of the Bay Bridge, at his loft in Emeryville on Thursday.
According to the suspect's LinkedIn page, Momeni ran his own tech company for the past 13 years, called Expand IT, based out of Emeryville.
Within hours of his arrest, his company's website went dark and phones went unanswered.
His profile also says he graduated from the U.C. Berkeley, was bilingual in Farsi and spent time working as a consultant for other Bay Area companies like Coast Range and Marfic Technologies.
"It's even more shocking to find out that your neighbor is accused of the murder," Sam Singer, a neighbor said.
Sam Singer's public relations firm shares a wall with Momeni's unit in Emeryville's historic Besler Building, the same place police showed up with bull horns to arrest him early Thursday morning.
And while Singer says he hasn't seen Momeni in the past two weeks, he's never noticed any red flags.
"Nima is a very outgoing, very sweet, down-to-earth seemingly very professional gentleman, this is a complete shock to all of us in the building," he said. "He's very welcoming, very kind, just a good neighbor."
A much different opinion than that of Aaron Gipson's, who did web site work for Momeni but is still upset over a dispute they had regarding his pay.
"He was cruel, he was accusatory. But I didn't think he'd be capable of killing somebody," Gipson said.
How officials say Bob Lee died
Images obtained by the Daily Mail show Lee stumbling along Main Street after the stabbing. Lee is seen through the front glass doors of the Portside apartment building as he attempts to use the call box before falling to the ground.
VIDEO: Is SF's violent crime as 'horrific' as tech execs claim? Here's what data shows
Sources say Lee had two stab wounds in his upper left chest. Lee was on the ground for about 10 seconds before standing up and walking towards a police car. Police say Lee died at the hospital. Lee's cell phone and his wallet were not stolen during the attack and both items were recovered at the scene, multiple sources told the ABC7 News I-Team.
Who was Bob Lee?
According to a statement released by Lee's brother, the tech CEO came from a modest upbringing in the Midwest. He started out in programming by making web pages for small businesses near his parents' store.
His brother says Lee actually created a solution, unpaid, for one of the first computer viruses, Code Red, which shut down the world.
"He spent the rest of his career on that same path. Through his help in creating Android, he made a cheaper and widely used OS. With Square, later block, he was able to solve a major problem for small businesses and help them to democratize cost-effective payments. With Cash App, he helped people access the digital payments world. What attracted him to MobileCoin was their idea to connect business and payments around the world," said Timothy Lee.
Read the full statement below:
Bob was a loving Son, Brother and Father.
He positively affected millions of people throughout his life. He had an overarching need to make technology accessible, and to help out everyone. Bob's dream was to make technology free and available.
From a modest upbringing in the Midwest, he started out programming and making web pages for the small business that bordered his parents' own store. Many people may not know, in the early days of tech one of the first computer viruses, Code Red, shut down the world. A young Bob created the solution unpaid and then gave it to the world for free. That's who Bob was.
He spent the rest of his career on that same path. Through his help in creating Android, he made a cheaper and widely used OS. With Square, later block, he was able to solve a major problem for small businesses and help them to democratize cost-effective payments. With Cash App, he helped the all people access the digital payments world. What attracted him to MobileCoin was their idea to connect business and payments around the world.
Bob loved being in San Francisco, and San Francisco loved Bob. Walking down the street would sometimes be difficult because every young person with a dream would search him out, and he would make time for everyone.
After our Mom's passing 3 years ago, Dad moved in with Bob to share in his life and support. Bob's new job took him to Miami, Dad came along as well. His love for his Family and San Francisco kept him coming back.
Personally, Bob felt it was important not to judge based on someone's beliefs. This caused so many people to love him from a Burning Man Camp to San Francisco to Miami and across the world. This philosophy afforded him friends from every walk of life. His love of music and art created an amazing group of truly individual and loving people. This community has been extremely supportive in his passing.
Every day around the world, people interact with technology that Bob helped create. Bob will live on through these interactions and his dreams of improving all of our lives.
As a family, we're very thankful to the hard-working Detectives at the SFPD for bringing his killer to Justice. Our next steps will be to work with the District Attorney's office to ensure that this person is not allowed to hurt anyone else or walk free.
From the Family of Bob Lee
How friends, FinTech community are remembering Bob Lee
Lee had moved away from the Bay Area several years ago to Florida, but friends of his tell ABC7 News he was back in San Francisco for a business summit with MobileCoin.
Following his death, friends and other tech executives spoke out in shock and sadness.
"It's just almost numbing, I think everybody close to Bob is just in shock because there was no one who I don't think didn't love Bob," Doug Dalton, a friend of Lee, said.
RELATED: Images detail last moments of Bob Lee's life after stabbing; SFPD says case is 'moving forward'
Dalton said the two had dinner a week before his death, describing Lee's spirits were high.
"He literally did not seem to have a care in the world," Dalton shared. "He was very excited about where things were going with MobileCoin. He was very excited to be back in the Bay for a bit."
Even those who didn't know him acknowledged what he had accomplished in his career and the impact he had as a leader in financial tech.
"My hope that is people going to look now seriously about where he stopped, and then take it from that point," San Jose State University professor and tech expert Ahmed Banafa said. "And they say, 'Okay, so we will fulfill his dream or legacy by going to the next level.'"
VIDEO: Friends of Bob Lee react to tech exec's fatal stabbing in San Francisco
San Francisco crime - by the numbers
The high-profile stabbing also brought conversation from other tech executives saying that violent crime in San Francisco is horrific and the streets are unsafe.
Jenkins called out Elon Musk by name for putting out misinformation about the crime and those who criticized the city for its street crime. The chief and DA are very much on the defensive against critics who go after San Francisco for its crimes.
According to the latest 2021 FBI and local police crime data as compiled in ABC7's Neighborhood Safety Tracker, San Francisco is close to the bottom of the list of major cities, with 6.9 homicides per 100,000 people.
Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, Houston, Minneapolis, Oakland, Chicago, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Detroit and St. Louis had more reported homicides than San Francisco.
The crime trends for the year as of April 2, 2023, have 12 homicides compared to 10 for that same period last year. The number of reported assault cases is up by 2% and robberies are up by 14%. But rape and human trafficking crimes are significantly down.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed has also spoken out, saying that social media has helped spread a message questioning the safety in the city.
"When the facts of many of these cases come out, many people are going to be surprised," Breed said. "It has really heightened events like this as well as people jumping to conclusions about what they think is happening."
RELATED: SF Mayor London Breed speaks about Bob Lee stabbing investigation, public safety in the city
ABC7 News reporters Amanda del Castillo, Cornell Barnard and Lena Howland contributed to this report.
