NEW YORK POST
IT consultant Nima Momeni fatally stabbed CashApp founder Bob Lee through the heart after the pair fought about the suspect’s sister — and whether they were doing “anything inappropriate,” new court documents released Friday allege.
Police claim that before Lee was murdered on the streets of San Francisco in the early hours of April 4, Momeni and the slain tech entrepreneur had talked on the phone about his sister, Khazar Momeni, who was married to someone else.
An unnamed witness told police that Nima grilled Lee about his sister, asking if Khazar, who is married to a prominent plastic surgeon, was “doing drugs or anything inappropriate.”
Lee, 43, assured his alleged murderer that nothing out of bounds had happened.
Police didn’t elaborate on the relationship Lee had with Khazar, who was not named in the court documents. The witness told police it was unclear to them if Lee and Khazar had an “intimate relationship.” Lee had been estranged from his wife, with whom he shared two young girls, at the time of his murder and had moved from California to Florida with his dad.
That fateful night, Nima drove Lee to a “dark and secluded area” of San Francisco, the charging documents allege, where he stabbed him through the heart with a kitchen knife.
Khazar brought the knife with him from his home, which police said makes clear the murder was “planned and deliberate.”
Khazar texted Lee around the time of his murder to check in on him, the documents claim.
“Just wanted to make sure your doing ok Cause I know nima came wayyyyyy down hard on you,” she wrote.
“And thank you for being such a class man handling it with class. Love you Selfish pricks.”
Nima was arrested Thursday morning after an exhaustive investigation and made his first appearance in court Friday, which attended by his sister and her husband. He flashed a heart sign to her from the dock and she responded with the same symbol. Nima is set to be formally arraigned on April 25 and faces more than 20 years in prison if convicted.
Lee was estranged from his wife, with whom he shared two young girls, and was living in Florida with his dad at the time of his murder.
Nima was arrested Thursday morning and prosecutors plan to charge him with murder. He is set to be arraigned on April 25 and faces more than 20 years in prison if convicted.
Police paint a somewhat hazy picture of Lee’s final hours, saying he went between Khazar’s multi-million dollar high-rise apartment during the afternoon of April 3, where they drank along with a witness and someone else who lived in the apartment. That apartment has since been searched by police.
The witness and Lee then headed back to the tech titan’s hotel room in San Francisco, which is when he spoke to Nima on the phone. The pair then went to Lee’s apartment also in San Francisco, where they hung out for a while.
The pair then went to Lee’s apartment, also in San Francisco, where they hung out for a while.
At 12:30 a.m., Lee left his own apartment. The witness stayed and never saw Lee again. Police did not explain the relationship between Lee and the witness, but said the two had known each other for around a decade.
The morning of April 4, the witness called Khazar and after if Lee had gone over, unsure where he went.
The sister said yes, but only stayed “for a second” — adding that she fell asleep and doesn’t know where he went.
Video footage from the sister’s apartment confirms Lee went back to Khazar’s place in the early morning of April 4. It also shows him and Nima in an elevator together at 2:03 a.m. in the ritzy building before the two got into the alleged killer’s white BMW.
Not soon after, authorities said grainy video captured Lee and Nima standing outside of the BMW for about five minutes in a deserted part of the wealthy Rincon Hills neighborhood. That’s when it is believed Nima stabbed Lee “three separate times, “prosecutors said in their motion to hold the suspect without bail.
“One of the wounds, showing a direct and clear intent to kill, penetrated the Victim’s heart,” Assistant District Attorney Omid Talai wrote.
Additional security cameras appear to show Lee walking away injured and Nima walking near the area where the murder weapon was discovered, but the video isn’t clear enough to show their faces.
The white BMW then sped off at a high speed, police say, and Lee was left “to slowly die.”
