Nima Momeni, former technology consultant at the center The Bob Lee Murder Case.has been found guilty of the death of the founder of Cash App.
On Tuesday, after deliberating for seven days, a jury acquitted Momeni of first-degree murder but found him guilty of second-degree murder. NBC reports. As a result, he faces a sentence of between 16 years and life in prison.
Lee, who was 43 years old at the time of his death, was found bleeding from multiple stab wounds on the streets of San Francisco one morning last April. He later died in a hospital.
In the days after his death, San Francisco’s elite used the murder as an opportunity to expose local crime, with many assuming that the tech executive had been murdered by a low-level criminal. Elon Musk immediately took advantage of Lee’s death to make a political argument. post on social media “Violent crime in SF is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often immediately released.”
However, was soon discovered that Lee was actually attacked by Momeni, another white-collar tech worker. Before his arrest, Momeni ran a company called Expand IT, based in the Bay Area, which was described as a computer consulting company.
Prosecutors allege the murder took place after a dispute between Lee and Momeni over Momeni’s sister, Khazar Momeni, whom Lee also knew. Prosecutors say Momeni was under the impression that Khazar had been sexually assaulted by a man Lee introduced her to.
On the night of the murder, Lee and Momeni spent time at Khazar’s apartment, before leaving in Nima’s BMW around 2am. Prosecutors say Momeni then took Lee to a secluded location and stabbed him three times, including once in the heart.
Momeni’s lawyers told a different story, claiming that Momeni had acted in self-defense and that it was Lee who, in a drug-fueled state, reacted badly to a joke Momeni had made at his expense and pulled a knife on him. Momeni claimed that a fight had broken out, with both men fighting over the knife, after which Lee left the vehicle. He told the jury he didn’t realize Lee had been stabbed.
“We believe justice was served here today,” said Lee’s brother, Tim Oliver Lee, was quoted saying. “What matters today is that we got a guilty verdict and Nima Momeni will be gone for a long time.”
