Nima Momeni Sentenced to 16 Years to Life for Killing of Bob Lee
Nima Momeni has been sentenced to 16 years to life in prison for the murder of Bob Lee, the entrepreneur who created the mobile payment service Cash App, The Guardian reported. Momeni is 42.
Lee was serving as chief product officer of MobileCoin, a cryptocurrency company, when he died in April 2023. Prosecutors argued that on April 4, 2023, Momeni drove Lee to an isolated spot under the Bay Bridge, stabbed him with a knife taken from his sister's kitchen, and left him to die.
Prosecutors said Momeni was angry with Lee for introducing his younger sister, Khazar Elyassnia, to a drug dealer. She said the dealer gave her GHB, a drug, and sexually assaulted her. Prosecutors said Momeni blamed Lee for the introduction.
Momeni was arrested and charged with first-degree murder nearly three weeks after the killing. He had been held in the San Francisco County Jail since late April 2023.
At trial, Momeni testified that Lee attacked him with a knife and that he acted in self-defense. He said he did not realize he had fatally wounded Lee. A jury nonetheless convicted him of second-degree murder after a week of deliberations.
Family members of both Lee and Momeni, as well as Momeni himself, spoke during the sentencing hearing. Scout Lee, Bob Lee's daughter, was 14 years old when her father was killed.
