A tech consultant was arrested and charged with murder Thursday in the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee in downtown San Francisco, authorities said.
Nima Momeni, 38, and Lee, 43, knew each other, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said at a news conference, but he declined to elaborate on their connection. Momeni was taken into custody Thursday morning in Emeryville and booked on suspicion of murder.
The stabbing death of Lee shocked the tech industry, with friends and former colleagues mourning the demise of a brilliant and generous man. Police found Lee with stab wounds in the Rincon Hill neighborhood at 2:30 a.m. April 4. He died at a hospital.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
Scott declined to give details on how they linked the killing to Momeni. The chief also refused to disclose a possible motive. Investigators served search warrants in San Francisco and Emeryville. Scott would not say whether a weapon has been found.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a statement that Momeni has been charged with murder in Lee’s death and is expected to be arraigned Friday. Prosecutors will ask a judge to hold him without bail, she said.
It was not immediately clear whether Momeni has an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
On his LinkedIn profile, Momeni describes himself as an “IT Consultant/Entrepreneur” as well as the owner of a company called Expand IT. Business filings with the state list Momeni as the chief executive officer, secretary and chief financial officer of Expand IT INC, described as an information technology consulting business. He signed the filing in August 2022.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Momeni has been “a dedicated technology partner since 2005” and that he started Expand IT in 2010.
Public relations specialist Sam Singer has an office space next door to Momeni's unit.
"It was shocking to us because he was a very nice neighbor, very welcoming, very kind, very professional gentleman," Singer said.
Singer said Momeni gave him a tour of his place when Singer moved into his new East Bay office last month.
"He let us into his unit, he showed us around," Singer said. "There was a pool table. There’s big fancy stereo speakers, gourmet food. Was very welcoming. We invited him into our new space and he was very complementary about the remodel that we had done."
Akash Sawhney worked with Momeni a few years back. The startup company he worked for hired Momeni to set up their network. Sawhney said he never saw any red flags.
"Every interaction that I had with him, it was always very cordial, very accommodating, very much with a smile on his face," Sawhney said. "Never any signs of any anger or anything of that nature."
Criminal records show Momeni was charged with carrying a switchblade in 2011, a misdemeanor offense. The case was dismissed the following year after he took a plea.
Associated Press reporter Stefanie Dazio contributed from Los Angeles.
