Momeni, the man charged in the fatal stabbing of Cash App founder Bob Lee, makes his way into the courtroom for his arraignment in San Francisco, May 2, 2023. — San Francisco Chronicle via AP
Technology executive Bob Lee’s accused killer told a jury he acted in self defence after Lee tried to attack him with a knife on a San Francisco street a year and a half ago, saying “he went crazy on me” after losing his temper.
Nima Momeni, defending himself at his murder trial, testified Nov 13 that during a late night of socialising in April 2023, Lee became enraged, pulled a knife out of his jacket pocket and took a swing, before Momeni grabbed his arm and redirected the blade at his upper chest.
"I was in shock. I was just attacked,” Momeni told jurors. "This is not a normal situation.”
Lee was revered by the Bay Area’s tech community as a master coder who helped develop Google’s Android and Square’s Cash App before becoming a top executive at MobileCoin. The slaying of the 43-year-old father of two drew nationwide attention and at first fueled speculation that he was a random victim of violence in a city falling into post-pandemic lawlessness.
The narrative shifted sharply when police arrested Momeni, a technology entrepreneur who knew Lee, and charged him with premeditated murder. Prosecutors have argued that Momeni was an "overprotective, wanna-be tough guy” who stabbed Lee following an argument over whether the executive had an inappropriate relationship with Momeni’s sister, Khazar.
‘Bad joke’
Momeni testified that after leaving Khazar’s apartment in his car late at night, a friendly conservation between the two men quickly turned violent when Momeni made what he called a “bad joke”.
Lee “blew up” after Momeni suggested that “if it was my last night in town, I’d go hang out with my family” instead of going to strip clubs, Momeni testified, adding that his attempt to defuse the situation only made Lee angrier.
“I was afraid for my life,” Momeni testified under questioning from his own lawyer as he gave a blow-by-blow account of the physical confrontation that he says ended with Lee “casually” walking away, appearing to be uninjured, and Momeni throwing the knife over a fence. Lee died in the hospital hours after he called 911 for help and was found bleeding from multiple wounds, including one that pierced his heart.
Binging on cocaine
Momeni’s lawyers told the jury when the trial started a month ago that Lee had been binging on cocaine and sleeping little before he tried to attack Momeni.
In Wednesday’s testimony, Momeni said he arrived in the US from Iran when he was 15, alongside his mother and sister, as they sought to escape his allegedly abusive father. He also said he’d been trained in Krav Maga, the Israeli military style of martial arts.
Momeni testified that he first met Lee just a couple of days before the fatal encounter, saying Khazar “always spoke highly of him.” When the two men met, Lee “was energised, super chatty,” Momeni said. “He was coming from a party. I forget which one.”
Momeni also said his sister’s “drug addiction had taken over everything”. Drug use by Momeni, Khazar and Lee has been a frequent topic of witness testimony during the trial.
Following the fight with Lee, Momeni said he called his sister.
‘Went crazy’
"Don’t let him back in,” he recalled telling her. "He went crazy on me, tried to attack me.”
Momeni testified that when he later learned that Lee had died, he was "heartbroken, still to this point”.
"He attacked me but he didn’t deserve this,” he said, as Lee’s brother shook his head sitting in the courtroom gallery. "I didn’t see this coming at all.”
Before Wednesday, the most dramatic testimony came from Khazar, who sought to defend her brother but acknowledged on the stand that her memory was foggy because she’d been on a drug bender before and after Lee’s death. – Bloomberg
