Montgomery St. and Skyline of Downtown areas of San Francisco, CA. (Photo: Randy Andy/ Shutterstock)
Arrest Made in SF Murder of Cash App Founder Bob Lee
Tech exec’s alleged killer also worked in tech
By Katy Grimes, April 13, 2023 1:40 pm
Cash App Founder and MobileCoin CPO Bob Lee was stabbed to death April 4th in the San Francisco neighborhood of Rincon Hill, leading to outrage from residents and tech leaders.
Lee moved to Miami last year concerned about the crime in San Francisco, and to take advantage of Miami embracing cryptocurrency companies. He was back last week in SF for a MobileCoin Leadership Summit in the city and opted to stay an extra few days to see friends.
Lee was stabbed in the early morning hours. He was seen moving around clutching his side, asking bystanders for help, and finally collapsed in the Rincon Hill neighborhood nearby both the financial district and Google headquarters.
Mission Local reported Thursday an arrest has been made in Lee’s murder:
Mission Local is informed that the San Francisco Police Department early this morning made an arrest in the April 4 killing of tech executive Bob Lee, following an operation undertaken outside the city’s borders. The alleged killer also works in tech and is a man Lee purportedly knew.
We are told that police today were dispatched to Emeryville with a warrant to arrest a man named Nima Momeni. The name and Emeryville address SFPD officers traveled to correspond with this man, the owner of a company called Expand IT.
Multiple police sources have described the predawn knifing last week, which left the 43-year-old Lee dead in a deserted section of downtown San Francisco, as neither a robbery attempt nor a random attack.
Fox2 KTVU reported on Momeni:
Momeni listed himself as the founder of Expand IT, Inc in the Besler building at 4053 Harlan Street in Emeryville. The company touts itself as a group of enterprise IT professionals who provide technology support, project management consulting, security audits and helpdesk support. The company’s website was taken down Thursday morning. No one from his company returned a request seeking comment about Momeni’s arrest.
Mission Local reported Lee and Momeni were portrayed by police as being familiar with one another, dispelling the rumor that this was another random attack. “In the wee hours of April 4, they were purportedly driving together through downtown San Francisco in a car registered to the suspect.”
Mission Local continues:
Some manner of confrontation allegedly commenced while both men were in the vehicle, and potentially continued after Lee exited the car. Police allege that Momeni stabbed Lee multiple times with a knife that was recovered not far from the spot on the 300 block of Main Street to which officers initially responded.
This scenario would explain, in part, why Lee was walking through a portion of Main Street in which there is little to no foot traffic at 2:30 a.m. That was one of several incongruous circumstances surrounding Lee’s violent death, which law-enforcement sources, from the get-go felt made it far from a straightforward or random crime.
Mission Local has more details, and names all of San Francisco’s other homicide victims in 2023.
UPDATE, Thursday 2:30pm: San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced charges against Nima Momeni (38) in connection to the murder of Robert Lee. Mr. Momeni has been charged with murder (PC 187(a)) with an allegation that he personally used a deadly weapon (knife) in the commission of this crime (PC 12022(b)(1)).
“I know acts of violence like this shake our communities and I thank the San Francisco Police Department for their tireless efforts to solve this case,” said District Attorney Brooke Jenkins. “With this arrest, we will now work to bring justice and closure for Mr. Lee’s family, friends and our city that has been gripped by this case. My office is working closely with law enforcement agencies and our other city partners every day to enhance and improve public safety in San Francisco.”
On April 4, 2023, at approximately 2:35 a.m., San Francisco Police officers from Southern Station responded to the 300 block of Main Street for a report of a stabbing. Officers arrived on scene and located the victim, later identified as 43-year-old Robert Lee, suffering from apparent stab wounds. Officers rendered aid and summoned medics to the scene. The victim was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries. Despite efforts by first responders and medical personnel, the victim succumbed to his injuries.
Mr. Momeni has been in custody since his arrest, today, April 13, 2023, and is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday, April 14, 2023, in Department 10 of the Hall of Justice at 1:30PM. Prosecutors will seek pre-trial detention in this case because of the extreme public safety risk he poses. Momeni faces 26 years to life imprisonment.
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Good news.
I hope this brings the family some solace as the killer is now off the streets.
So, I have some questions.
1- Is there really a single inch of downtown San Francisco that is is not under CCTV coverage?
2- When exactly was his flight home?
3- Was that transient person rolling Bob Lees suitcase away ?
4-Can we assume that Mr. Momeni will be granted OR , or at least be allowed to be free until his court dates?
Or maybe he needs a much longer violent rap sheet to earn his ‘frequent flyer’ ‘get out of jail’ free card.
And my final question,
if San Francisco is so ‘safe’ …..I challenge anybody making that claim to go park their car downtown a check into any hotel near the ‘Tender-Nob.
Better yet, let them spend one night on the street…….unhoused.
This is such a tragedy that has now been turned into an example of how well the main stream media
obeys the giants.
Grossest!
DEFUND POLITICS AND DEFROCK THE POLITICIANS
Katie Grimes forgot to mention that during the news brief about the arrest of the suspect, SF District Attorney Brooke Jenkins twice attacked Elon Musk for his tweet about the soaring crime in SF and whether the city taking stronger action to incarcerate repeat violent offenders. SF District Attorney Brooke blasted Musk by saying that his tweet contained “reckless and irresponsible statements,” and that he was spreading “misinformation” about the case. She also said that Musk was misleading the world in their perceptions of San Francisco. A few minutes later, when asked about public safety in the city, she invoked Musk’s name again saying that her office has worked hard to actually tell people not to make assumptions about this case. SF District Attorney Brooke is really no different than Chesa Boudin the former Democrat District Attorney whom she replaced other than she’s a different gender and has a slightly darker skin tone?
“Pay no attention to that woman behind the curtain.” The Wizardess of Oz.
Even by SF’s very bizarre standards over the decades, and there have been some very strange murders, this latest twist does not pass the smell test.
So a rich kid brat with a rap sheet for knives and DUI’s. Nothing unusual there. Knifing someone you know on Main at 2am? Sorry. Where does this even start to make sense. Even in SF. This has always been a dangerous area for as long as I can remember. Since the mid 1980’s. Last time I was down there at night a few years ago, had a regular meeting on Beale St, I was in full 6’th / Mission, 16’th / Mission, Tenderloin watch everyone mode at all times. Its a very dangerous area. No matter how many expensive residential towers they build. Even during the day those blocks are full of sketchy people, street crims and street crazies.
So lets see what the evidence actually is. And if they can get it to stick. Would not be the first time City Hall politicians railroaded a a totally demoralized and hollowed out SFPD into providing a perp, any perp, on short notice.
Way too convenient for the City pols who put so many criminals on the streets and who now have a collapsed SFPD on their hands. Last year around 50% of the SFPD were planning to retire / move. SF will discover just like Seattle and Portland has just what its like to no longer have a functioning PD. Due to the politicians.