A San Francisco jury has found Nima Momeni guilty of second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of Bob Lee, the tech executive who created Cash App, also serving as Block’s former Chief Technology Officer.
The verdict, delivered on December 17, means Momeni could face up to 16 years to life in prison. Lee, 43, was killed in April 2023 in downtown San Francisco. Prosecutors alleged that the incident followed a drug-fueled gathering involving Lee and Khazar Momeni, Nima Momeni’s sister.
The prosecution claimed that tensions heightened after the gathering, leading Nima Momeni to stab Lee with a kitchen knife taken from his sister’s home. The defense however argued that Momeni acted in self-defense during a confrontation under the Bay Bridge. Meanwhile, video evidence and forensic tests showing Momeni’s DNA on the weapon pointed to him as the aggressor.
Lee’s death was thought initially to be a random act of violence, but the narrative changed after it was revealed that Lee and Momeni knew each other.
Lee, who was serving as Chief Product Officer at MobileCoin at the time of his death, was a respected figure in the tech world. He previously played key roles in developing Android and Square (now Block) and was an early investor in companies like ‘SpaceX’, ‘Clubhouse’, and ‘Figma’.
Philips Babatunde