San Francisco police chief William Scott (centre) speaks during a press conference with San Francisco Mayor London Breed (left) and San Francisco district attorney Brooke Jenkins (right) at San Francisco Police headquarters on April 13, 2023 in San Francisco, California. San Francisco police arrested 38 year-old tech tech entrepreneur Nima Momeni at his home in Emeryville, California in connection with the stabbing murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee. Momeni was taken into custody without incident. — AFP
The man police arrested April 13 in the murder of tech leader Bob Lee was 38-year-old Nima Momeni, who ran an IT consultancy and lived in Emeryville, California, a small city east of San Francisco.
One person who knew Momeni was shocked to hear that he was suspected in the killing that shook San Francisco last week, and that prompted an outpouring of grief in the tech community and anger over crime in the city.
“I have no concept of him as a violent person,” said Momeni’s friend, who asked not to be identified discussing ties with the suspect, citing privacy fears. “The idea that he would commit or initiate violence is absurd.”
Momeni was taken into custody Thursday and charged with the fatal stabbing of Lee, 43, on a downtown street in San Francisco in the early morning of April 4, police said.
The friend of Momeni’s said the two have known each other for at least a decade, and called him a great friend, night owl and a partier – someone who might be expected to be out partying in the early morning hours on a weekday. But the person said that it was “totally shocking” that Momeni could be charged in a murder.
“I definitely am keeping the benefit of the doubt and holding out for details to emerge,” the person said. “I’m going to go with innocent until proven guilty.”
Momeni owns a small IT firm called Expand IT Inc, and his LinkedIn profile described him as an IT consultant and entrepreneur. On Thursday, as news reports circulated about his arrest, Expand IT’s page became unavailable and the company’s website went down. Earlier in the day, LinkedIn said that the firm had fewer than 10 employees.
In the hours after Momeni’s arrest, the scene outside his Emeryville building was chaotic. Multiple TV news trucks crowded near the building’s entrance on the tiny, typically serene street, with lenses pointed toward the front doors.
Neighbours were shaken and upset by the arrest and the attention. They gathered around the block, away from the TV news cameras, some holding their dogs and sharing a cigarette. One neighbour who asked not to be identified said he was woken up in the early morning by the sounds of the arrest. Another said had met Momeni but didn’t know him well, describing him as seeming “a continent away.”
Court records show Momeni was charged in 2011 in Alameda County with illegal possession of a switchblade knife and driving with a suspended license following a previous arrest for drunk driving. The knife charge was dismissed, but Momeni got 10 days in jail and three years of probation for the driving offense, the records show.
Momeni’s LinkedIn listed the University of California, Berkeley as his alma mater. The university didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry as to whether Momeni attended or graduated from the school.
Momeni donated US$250 to Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020, according to OpenSecrets. In 2020, he also donated US$250 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. – Bloomberg
