Cash App Co-Founder Murder: Solution Provider Exec Accused Of ‘Deliberate’ Attack

Prosecutors allege that video shows Nima Momeni and Bob Lee together.

Cash App co-founder Bob Lee

Prosecutors have accused the owner of a California solution provider of perpetrating “a planned and deliberate attack” against Bob Lee, the co-founder of mobile payment service Cash App who was stabbed to death April 4, according to documents filed in San Francisco County Superior Court Friday.

Prosecutors allege that video shows Nima Momeni – described on his LinkedIn account as the owner of Emeryville, Calif.-based Expand IT – drive Lee in a late model white BMW Z4 to “a dark and secluded area” near where first responders later found Lee bleeding to death from three stab wounds.

Lee was stabbed in the hip, chest and through the heart with a 4-inch, silver-and-black-blade kitchen knife, causing his death, according to prosecutors. The conflict between the two men appears centered around Lee’s relationship with Momeni’s sister.

[RELATED: Cash App Co-Founder Murder: Solution Provider Owner Arrested]

Cash App Co-Founder Murder Details

CRN has reached out to Momeni and LinkedIn users identified as Expand employees for comment.

The use of a kitchen knife, and not a pocket knife, is part of what suggests “this was a planned and deliberate attack,” according to court documents.

Prosecutors allege that video shows Momeni, 38, and Lee, 43, exit the BMW and stand on the sidewalk for about five minutes before Momeni “appears to suddenly move toward” Lee.

Lee walks away. Momeni walks over to where police later recover a bloody knife. The BMW then speeds away.

The details are part of court documents filed to keep Momeni detained without bail. Momeni’s arraignment, originally scheduled for Friday, was delayed until April 25 because his defense attorney, Paula Canny, is on vacation, according to multiple media outlets.

Robert Canny, the defense attorney’s brother who is also an attorney, told reporters after the hearing that “the facts of what occurred, or didn’t occur, will come out over time,” according to multiple reports.

Prosecutors Allege Disagreement Over Sister

In the court documents, a witness described as a close friend of Lee’s said that the day before his death, Lee was with Momeni’s sister at an apartment in San Francisco.

The court documents allege that the sister’s marriage “had possibly been in jeopardy” and that the sister declined an invitation to go with Lee and the friend to Lee’s hotel room at 1 Hotel San Francisco.

In the hotel room, Lee talked to Momeni, who allegedly asked Lee if his sister was “doing drugs or anything inappropriate.” Lee told Momeni nothing inappropriate happened, according to the court documents.

Lee and the friend then went to Lee’s apartment. Lee left the apartment around 12:30 a.m. Pacific time April 4. The friend never saw Lee again, according to the court documents.

The friend later called Momeni’s sister to ask if Lee went to her apartment at Millennium Tower – one of the tallest buildings in the city at 645 feet high. The sister said Lee came to her apartment “for a second.” She fell asleep and didn’t know when he left, according to the court documents.

San Francisco Police officers reviewed tower surveillance video and saw a late model white BMW Z4 arrive at the tower around 8:31 p.m. April 3. Momeni allegedly exited the car in a white T-shirt and pants and went inside the tower. Lee, wearing all black, entered the building at around 12:39 a.m. April 4.

Tower camera footage shows Lee and Momeni take an elevator together to the lobby and get in Momeni’s BMW. Momeni had changed into a large light tan and white jacket and black beanie, according to the court documents. Momeni drives the BMW with Lee in the passenger seat to the block near where Lee was found lying in the street with stab wounds.

More surveillance video shows the BMW park in “a dark and secluded area.” Momeni and Lee exit the car, stand on the sidewalk for about five minutes, and then Momeni “appears to suddenly move toward” Lee.

SFPD examined Lee’s cellphone and saw a FaceTime call between Lee and “Nima Via Khazar.” The court documents do not say when the call was made.

Momeni’s sister said in a text to Lee, “Just wanted to make sure your doing ok Cause I know nima came wayyyyyy down hard on you And thank you for being such a classy man handling it with class Love you Selfish pr*cks.” The court documents do not say when the text was sent.

Momeni’s LinkedIn account shows that he’s owned Expand – based in Emeryville, Calif., across the Bay from San Francisco – since 2010.

Momeni’s resume includes more than 17 years as a tech consultant with companies including Diablo IT and Coast Range IT. He also worked as a system and network engineer with a company called Marfic, leaving in 2007.

Other high-profile crime cases in the channel include the 2018 arrest of Paul Caneiro, vice president of New Jersey-based solution provider Square One. Caneiro awaits trial for the murder of his brother – the company’s founder – his sister-in-law and their children.

In 2016, Braulio Castillo, former president and CEO of Virginia-based government-focused reseller Strong Castle, was convicted of murder.