Nima Momeni, the man convicted of murdering Cash App founder Bob Lee, has been sentenced to 16 years to life.
Momeni, 42, has been in San Francisco’s county jail since late April of 2023, after he was arrested in connection with the stabbing death of Lee, who had created the mobile payment service and was serving as the chief product officer of the cryptocurrency MobileCoin at the time of his death.
Family members of both men and Momeni himself spoke during the sentencing hearing, SFGate reports.
Lee’s daughter, Scout Lee, who was 14 when her father was killed, told the judge her world was “shattered” after her father was killed.
“Mr Momeni, you didn’t just take my dad that day,” Scout said. “You took my best friend.”
Momeni’s mother, Mahnaz Tayarani, implored the judge to look beyond her son’s crime and base his sentence on the totality of her son’s life.
“I am here because I love my son,” Tayarani said. “A person’s life can hold more than the worst moment of his life. Nima is not perfect. No human being is.”
Momeni, clad in an orange jail uniform, told the judge: “It was never my intention to see anyone hurt or suffer … I’m truly sorry,” he said.
Momeni’s sentencing marks the end of a case that shocked those in the highest echelons of the US tech industry. Before Momeni was arrested, tech giants including Elon Musk blamed Lee’s killing on city leaders for allowing lawlessness and random violence, reigniting a longstanding debate about the safety of the streets in San Francisco.
But soon, a feud between the men came to light.
Prosecutors said Momeni was angry with Lee for introducing his younger sister, Khazar Elyassnia, to a drug dealer she said gave her GHB and other drugs and then sexually assaulted her. On 4 April 2023, he 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, they argued.
Momeni was arrested and charged with first-degree murder nearly three weeks later.
During the trial, Momeni testified on the stand that Lee had actually attacked him with a knife because Lee was angry after Momeni, a tech consultant, chided him about spending more time with his family instead of searching for a strip club that night. Momeni, who studies martial arts, claimed self-defense and said he did not realize he had fatally wounded Lee or that Lee was even hurt.
After a week of deliberations, the jury convicted Momeni of second-degree murder.
