Authorities in San Francisco have reported that a suspect has been arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of Bob Lee, the creator of Cash App and a prominent fintech pioneer. The arrest was made on Thursday morning and the suspect has been identified as Nima Momeni, the owner of the technology company Expand IT. Momeni, 38, was taken into custody at his home in Emeryville, a suburb located between Oakland and Berkeley, and will be arraigned on Friday afternoon. San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott announced the arrest during an afternoon news conference and confirmed that Lee and Momeni knew each other.
Nima Momeni charged in murder of Bob Lee
Scott added that the police had been working tirelessly on the case and that Momeni had been charged with murder and the special enhancement of committing murder with a knife. District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, who also spoke at the conference, revealed that Momeni had not been an immediate suspect in the case but had been identified as a result of an extensive investigation.
Lee was found with stab wounds in the city’s downtown area on 4 April and was rushed to a nearby hospital but later died from his injuries. His death had caused controversy, with some in the tech industry, including Elon Musk, using it to criticize the city’s liberal policies toward crime. Musk had tweeted on 5 April that violent crime in San Francisco was “horrific” and that even when attackers were caught, they were often released immediately.
Speaking at the news conference, Jenkins criticized Musk and others who had made “reckless and irresponsible statements” about the killing. Jenkins added that such statements “serve to mislead the world in their perceptions of San Francisco and also negatively impact the pursuit of justice for victims of crimes as it spreads misinformation.”
Lee previously served as CTO at Square
At the time of his death, Lee had been working as the chief product officer at MobileCoin and had previously worked as the first chief technology officer at Square, the e-commerce company created by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey that is now known as Block. Lee had created Cash App, which enables users in the US and UK to send money to one another via their mobile phones.
According to Momeni’s LinkedIn profile, he started Expand IT in 2010. The company provides IT and technology support services to other businesses. The police had not identified Momeni as a suspect until recently, and a voicemail seeking comment left at Expand IT was not immediately returned.
Following news of Momeni’s arrest, Lee’s brother, Tim Oliver Lee, thanked the police for apprehending the suspect in a post on Facebook. He added that the family was looking forward to working with the District Attorney’s office to prosecute the case and that “hopefully now our family can begin the healing process.” Scott also noted that Lee’s killing could have happened in any city and that it was more about human behavior than the location where it occurred.
If you enjoy our writing, please consider leaving a small donation. Your support helps keep the lights on and allows us to hire more writers and grow our site.
