Kriti Mehrotra
When Robert “Bob” Lee was found unresponsive near downtown San Francisco in the early hours of April 4, 2023, it left the entire tech community in a state of complete upset. The 43-year-old Founder of CashApp was simply visiting the area for some work from his base in Miami, Florida, so no one ever expected he would be dialing 911 and begging for help days later. He was quickly rushed to a local hospital, but to no avail, as he’d been fatally stabbed at the hands of Nima Momeni — a case that has since been profiled in NBC’s ‘Dateline: Under the Bay Bridge.’
Nima Momeni Was Once a Tech Professional With an Extensive Background
A proud native of Iran, Nima Momeni reportedly emigrated to the US alongside his beloved family sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s owing to the internal political revolution. They likely settled in California, where he developed a keen interest in engineering and information technology before deciding to pursue higher studies in the same fields. The 2003 Albany High School graduate attended Vista College and Laney College. He then allegedly earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley. We use “allegedly” because representatives of the elite institution have since asserted that they have found no records of anyone with Nima’s name ever attending or graduating from the institution. Nevertheless, he managed to establish himself in the world of tech with his experience, knowledge, and skills.
He kick-started his career in 2005 and was reportedly a Network Engineer at Marfic Technologies for a short while before moving forward to serve as an IT Consultant at the Russell Haynes-owned Coast Range Technologies in 2006. Nima thrived over the ensuing four years, driving him to take a leap of faith and establish his own “one-stop technology and security provider” consultancy, Expand IT, in April 2010. As if that’s not enough, he often even described himself as a “dedicated technology partner” who never hesitated to offer support to clients across industries, including finance, healthcare, and more. It thus seemed he was doing well for himself, especially as he also purchased an apartment at 4053 Harlan Street in Emeryville in 2020 for $525,000.
Nima Momeni Was Arrested For Murder With a Mountain of Evidence Against Him
Although Nima’s career often made it appear as if he were a pillar of society, the truth is he had been in and out of trouble with the law since 2004, when he was first charged with drunk driving. Then, in 2011, he was arrested for allegedly selling a switchblade knife and driving with a suspended license, only for the former count to be dismissed after he pleaded guilty to the latter. He was consequently ordered to destroy the knife, pay a $900 fine, and spend 10 days behind bars before his 3-year probation period could begin. According to records, he even got in trouble with the IRS for unpaid taxes a couple of times over the years, first in 2011 for $32,014 and then in 2017 for $18,433.
It’s also imperative to note that a woman came forward in August 2022 to report that Nima physically attacked her, but he was never officially charged for it owing to a lack of evidence. However, he was arrested for murder at his apartment at 5 am on April 13, 2023, after authorities recovered evidence connecting him to CashApp Founder Bob Lee’s April 3 stabbing death. According to records, the two men spent some time at the former’s sister’s apartment in the early hours of the fateful day by chance before leaving together at roughly 2 am in his vehicle.
Surveillance footage captured Nima stopping his car in a secluded area under the Bay Bridge on Main Street. Following that, both men got out, and the entrepreneur walked close to Bob. He then suddenly turned away, walked to a nearby fence for a brief moment, got back into his vehicle, and drove away, as per the footage, leaving the 43-year-old founder lying on the street. When officials initially arrived at the scene, they recovered a kitchen knife along the fence, a forensic analysis of which confirmed it was the murder weapon — it had both their DNA on it. That’s when Nima was arrested on the charge of first-degree murder, with the enhancement for use of a deadly weapon.
Nima Momeni is Currently Detained in Jail, Awaiting Sentencing
While investigators believed Nima stabbed Bob following an argument about his sister and her alleged drug use, the former later claimed he attacked the latter in self-defense. During his late 2024 trial, he alleged he made a joke about Bob being a “bad father,” which made him so angry that he pulled a knife on him and left him no choice but to defend himself. In the end, though, following an approximately 7-week trial as well as 7 days of deliberations, a jury unanimously acquitted him of first-degree murder but found him guilty of second-degree murder.
The verdict was read on December 17, 2024, but Nima has not yet been sentenced because his new team of lawyers has clarified and moved forward with their intent to file for a new trial. He replaced counsel shortly after his conviction, and his new attorneys have since requested all transcripts of the initial court hearings so they can review them before filing their motion. However, there has been a delay in their receiving it due to bureaucratic cutbacks, and per the rules of the legal system, no sentencing can occur while a new trial motion is pending. Therefore, today, even more than 15 months since his conviction, the 41-year-old remains detained in a San Francisco County jail.
We should also mention that Nima has since filed a $17 million lawsuit against several media organizations over their coverage of his case, alleging defamation and civil rights violations. He claims the way The San Francisco Standard, the Los Angeles Times, NYP Holdings (parent company of the New York Post), photojournalist Paul Kuroda, and around 100 more unnamed individuals covered his case was wrong. He alleges breach of contract, civil rights violations, defamation, fraud, invasion of privacy, infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and professional negligence, driving him to seek $17 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
