Murdered Tech Executive Knew His Alleged Killer, Say Police

Tom Jowitt,
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Cash App founder Bob Lee apparently knew the suspect in his stabbing death, police in San Francisco have said

The tech industry executive who was stabbed to death earlier this month in San Francisco, knew his alleged killer police have said.

CNN reported San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott as saying during a news conference on Thursday, that they had arrested Nima Momeni in connection to the murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee.

Bob Lee, the former chief technology officer of Square who helped launch Cash App, was stabbed to death in the Rincon Hill neighbourhood of San Francisco early in the morning of 4th April. CCTV cameras captured the moments following the attack.

Arrest made

The suspect arrested by police has been identified as a tech worker, named as Nima Momeni, a 38-year-old man from Emeryville, California.

Police Chief Bill Scott reportedly said Momeni and Lee knew one another, but he didn’t provide further details about their connection.

CNN reported that California Secretary of State Records indicate that Momeni has been the owner of an IT business, which, according to its website, provides services such as technical support.

Momeni was taken into custody without incident, Chief Scott said, and taken to the San Francisco County jail where he was booked on one charge of murder.

Bob Lee was the former chief technology officer of Square who helped launch Cash App.

He later joined MobileCoin, a cryptocurrency and digital payments startup, in 2021 as its chief product officer, CNN reported.

San Francisco crime

The murder of Lee shocked the Californian tech industry and Elon Musk said the incident highlighted the fact that “violent crime in SF is horrific.”

At the press conference on Thursday, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins slammed Elon Musk’s comments as “reckless and irresponsible.”

Musk’s statements “served to mislead the world in their perceptions of San Francisco and also negatively impact the pursuit of justice for victims of crime,” Jenkins reportedly said, because they spread “misinformation at a time when the police are trying to solve a very difficult case.”

But days later Musk doubled down on his comments, saying downtime San Francisco resembles a zombie zone.