SAN FRANCISCO—The 38-year-old tech marketing consultant charged with the killing of Money App founder Bob Lee deliberate the assault, drove the sufferer to a secluded spot and stabbed him over an obvious dispute associated to the person’s sister, prosecutors stated in a court docket doc launched Friday.
The movement to detain Nima Momeni with out bail is the primary official accounting of what might have led to the stabbing loss of life of Lee in a abandoned a part of downtown San Francisco early morning on April 4. Momeni was arrested Thursday and appeared in a San Francisco courtroom Friday however didn’t enter a plea.
He’s now scheduled to be arraigned April 25.
The decide in Friday’s temporary listening to agreed to detain Momeni in jail with out bail. If convicted, he faces 26 years to life in jail, stated the workplace of District Legal professional Brooke Jenkins.
Momeni appeared in court docket sporting an orange sweatshirt and pants. He didn’t communicate besides to say, “Sure your honor,” when the decide requested if he agreed to say no his proper to a speedy trial.
His youthful sister Khazar Elyassnia sat along with her husband, outstanding San Francisco plastic surgeon Dino Elyassnia, and two different members of the family within the entrance row on the listening to. When Momeni entered the courtroom, an older girl made a coronary heart signal along with her fingers and Momeni, who was sporting a face masks, smiled and nodded at them.
The household declined to talk to reporters.
Momeni is represented by Burlingame-based lawyer Paula Canny, who was on trip and whose brother Robert Canny, additionally an lawyer, appeared in her place Friday. “The info of what occurred, or didn’t happen, will come out over time,” he instructed reporters after the listening to.
On Thursday, San Francisco Police Chief Invoice Scott introduced Momeni’s arrest and stated that the 2 males knew one another however declined to elaborate on their connection. He additionally refused to reveal a potential motive.
The movement to detain Momeni depends on surveillance video and testimony from a good friend who was with Lee the afternoon and night earlier than he died. It doesn’t identify Khazar Elyassnia however lists her residence as within the Millennium Tower. Public data hyperlink the Elyassnia couple to a unit within the constructing.
The good friend, Lee and Khazar Elyassnia had been ingesting collectively the day earlier than the assault at one other individual’s condo, in accordance with the doc. The good friend met Khazar Elyassnia by means of Lee a number of years prior.
The good friend stated they went to Lee’s lodge room, with out Khazar Elyassnia, and seen a dialog during which Momeni was questioning Lee over whether or not his youthful sister “was doing medicine or something inappropriate,” in accordance with the doc. Lee reassured Momeni that nothing inappropriate had occurred. It’s unclear whether or not the dialog passed off in individual or by telephone.
The good friend and Lee parted methods round 12:30 a.m. Shortly after, Lee went to the Millennium Tower, in accordance with video surveillance. The video additionally reveals Lee and Momeni leaving the constructing shortly after 2 a.m. and driving off in Momeni’s BMW.
Prosecutors say that Momeni drove to a darkish and secluded spot, and attacked Lee with a kitchen knife, stabbing him 3 times, together with as soon as within the coronary heart. He then sped away “and left sufferer to slowly die,” in accordance with the movement. Police recovered a knife with a 4-inch blade on the scene.
The movement additionally signifies a textual content message that Khazar Elyassnia despatched Lee to test on him as a result of her brother got here “down arduous on you” and to thank him for “dealing with it with class.”
Robert Canny didn’t return an electronic mail and telephone message in search of touch upon the main points launched by the prosecutor’s workplace. Dino Elyassnia didn’t return emails and messages left at his follow in search of remark. Khazar Elyassnia couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
The stabbing loss of life of Lee shocked the tech business, with pals and former colleagues mourning a person they described as good, gregarious, and a doting father to his two youngsters.
Lee had just lately moved to Miami together with his father and was again in San Francisco for enterprise when police discovered him with stab wounds within the downtown Rincon Hill neighborhood at 2:30 a.m. April 4. He died at a hospital.
Lee is thought for creating the extensively used cell cost service Money App whereas working as chief expertise officer of the cost firm Sq., now often known as Block.
On his LinkedIn profile, Momeni describes himself as an “IT Advisor/Entrepreneur” in addition to the proprietor of an organization referred to as Increase IT, described as an info expertise consulting enterprise in state filings.
Prison data present Momeni was charged in 2011 for carrying a switchblade, a misdemeanor offense. The case was dismissed the next 12 months after he took a plea.
By Olga R. Rodriguez and Janie Har
