On Monday afternoon, a San Francisco jury returned a verdict in the high-profile murder case of Nima Momeni, who was accused of killing Cash App founder Bob Lee last year.
The judgment is scheduled to be read in San Francisco Superior Court at 9:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday. The jury had been deliberating since December 4 in a trial that began in October.
Prosecutors alleged that Momeni, 40, a self-proclaimed tech entrepreneur, stabbed Lee three times in April 2023 with a knife he had taken from Momeni's sister's kitchen set.
They heard that the Cash App founder introduced Momeni's sister to drug dealers and gave her drugs, including GHB (gamma hydroxybutyric acid), before sexually assaulting Momeni in his apartment. claimed to have planned and carried out the murder. GHB acts as a nervous system depressant.
Surveillance video shows Cash App founder using knife to snort cocaine before dying, defense claims
Nima Momeni (left) is accused of fatally stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee (right). (Nima Momeni/LinkedIn, Bob Lee/Facebook)
Prosecutors said Momeni lured Lee to a secluded area near the Bay Bridge, where he stabbed Lee before fleeing in his car. According to KTVU FOX 2, prosecutors said they found Lee's blood on the blade and Momeni's DNA on the handle.
Momeni's lawyer said he stabbed Lee in self-defense when he tried to fend off an attack from Lee who told him a bad joke. They said Mr Lee, who served several days in prison for being a cocaine and alcohol vendor, attacked Mr Momeni with a knife as a joke, forcing Mr Momeni to defend himself.
He testified during the trial that Lee showed no signs of being injured and then left. If convicted, Momeni faces 26 years to life in prison.
Nima Momeni, accused of stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee to death, heads to court for arraignment in San Francisco on May 2, 2023. (Gabriel Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle, via AP, Poole, File)
During closing arguments, Momeni's lawyers said they played explosive surveillance video showing Lee using a knife to snort cocaine hours before his death. They claimed it was the same knife Mr Lee used to confront his client over the joke that started the altercation.
Momeni testified that he stopped the car after driving over the pothole that caused Lee to spill the beer he was holding. Momeni said she later joked to Lee that she should spend the last night of her visit with her family instead of finding a strip club to continue partying.
At that time, Lee allegedly pulled a knife from his jacket pocket and attacked him.
Surveillance video showed the two leaving the defendant's sister Hazar Momeni's apartment and getting into Momeni's BMW at around 2 a.m. on April 4, 2023.
Other surveillance footage showed two people getting out of the car near the Bay Bridge where the stabbing took place.
Lee was found stumbling on a deserted street in downtown San Francisco at 2:30 a.m., dripping with blood and pleading for help. He later died at the hospital.
Lee lived in Miami but was visiting the Bay Area at the time of his murder.
Bob Lee gestures to his eyes as he watches black and white surveillance video with Nima Momeni in the elevator. (KTVU)
“I made a bad joke. I said if it was my last night in town, I'd rather hang out with my family than hang out at a strip club. That pissed him off. He exploded. According to KRON, he went from zero to 100 angry right in front of me.
But prosecutors have scoffed at Mr Momeni's story, saying he never called police to report Mr Lee's alleged assault and that Mr Lee stabbed him on the street where they last met. He pointed out that he never reported the incident even after learning that he had died.
A courtroom sketch depicts defendant Nima Momeni as prosecutor Omid Tarai gives her opening statement during her trial on Monday, October 14, 2024 in San Francisco, California. Momeni is charged with murder in the 2023 stabbing of Cash App founder Bob Lee. (Vicki Ellen Bellinger)
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Lee created the mobile payments service Cash App in 2013 while working at Block (formerly Square). This app is a digital wallet that allows users to send, receive and save money.
Fox News' Greg Norman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
