Global Courant 2023-05-03 10:28:02
Cash App founder Bob Lee died on the operating table in San Francisco last month after being stabbed three times, including through the heart, according to an autopsy report from the San Francisco lead investigator’s office.
Nima Momeni, a 38-year-old technical consultant and entrepreneur, is accused of killing 43-year-old Lee. Momeni was arrested on April 13 in Emeryville on suspicion of murder after San Francisco police put together a story involving Lee, Momeni, and Momeni’s sister.
Momeni was due to face charges on Tuesday, but the hearing was postponed for a third time to May 18 at the request of his lawyer.
Momeni allegedly stabbed Lee with a kitchen knife at around 2:30 a.m. on April 4 near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Lee called 911 and told police he had been stabbed and needed help.
When paramedics found him, Lee was unconscious and had no pulse, according to the autopsy report. He underwent emergency surgery at San Francisco General Hospital, where doctors discovered he had two wounds on his heart, which had been closed with staples. Lee also had an injury to his lung.
Doctors attempted further treatment, but Lee was pronounced dead on the operating table at 6:49 a.m. after they spent nearly four hours trying to save his life.
Lee’s manner of death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner’s office, with the cause of death as “multiple stab wounds”.
According to the autopsy report, alcohol, ketamine and cocaine were also found in Lee’s body.
According to the story laid out in court documents by prosecutors, Momeni has a married sister who was seen in Lee’s company. A close friend of Lee’s met Lee and the sister the night before the stabbing at an apartment on Mission Street. Both Lee and Momeni’s sister were drinking.
That friend later witnessed a conversation Lee had with Momeni about Momeni’s sister. The friend was unsure whether Lee and the sister had an intimate relationship, but told police the woman’s marital relationship “may have been in jeopardy.”
Prosecutors believe Momeni was angry that something “inappropriate” had happened to his sister and Lee the night before the stabbing.
San Francisco police recovered surveillance video from April 4 showing Momeni and Lee exiting a BMW on Main Street. In the video, one of the two, presumably Momeni, jumps to the second person, presumably Lee.
A kitchen knife with blood on the handle was later found by police near the sidewalk seen in the video.
San Francisco Dist. Attention. Brooke Jenkins speaks at a press conference following a courtroom appearance by Nima Momeni at the Hall of Justice in San Francisco on April 25, 2023.
(Jeff Chiu/Associated Press)
A woman who has not been publicly identified accused Momeni of assaulting her on Aug. 1, according to an Emeryville police report owned by The Times. She called police at 3:11 p.m. at the 4000 block of Harlan Street. She appeared to be “upset and on the verge of crying.”
The woman told police that Momeni had allowed her to stay on his couch in exchange for cleaning the unit; she said they were not in a romantic relationship. She said Momeni angrily yelled at her earlier that day to grab her belongings and leave. He allegedly grabbed her waist and arm and pushed her against a counter.
The woman told police she suspected Momeni of being unstable and that “one minute he will be fine and the next minute he will leave for no reason”.
Initially, the woman did not want to press charges, but later changed her mind. Police took pictures of the parts of the woman’s body where they said Momeni grabbed her; one officer said he saw redness but couldn’t say if it was from being grabbed.
Momeni denied the allegation when questioned by police and told them he wanted to press charges against the woman, whom he accused of pushing him.
Momeni’s roommate confirmed to police that he saw Momeni and the woman arguing that day, but did not see Momeni assaulting the woman.
Momeni was cited on suspicion of felony battery and released. The Alameda County District Attorney’s office has not filed any charges against him and declined to disclose the reason.
