Friends of tech exec Nima Momeni – accused of killing Cash App founder Bob Lee – said his life was ‘unraveling’ in the weeks and months leading up to the alleged stabbing.
Momeni, 38, is charged with murdering Lee on April 4 in San Francisco at around 2:35 a.m. after spending around two hours with him in his married sister Khazar’s apartment.
Prosecutors have previously claimed Momeni stabbed Bob Lee in the heart after vowing to ‘come down hard on him’ and grilling him over his relationship with Khazar, with whom the Cash App founder exchanged intimate text messages.
His friends and associates describe a man unraveling and battling with a drug addiction ‘that made him unable to reason and speak,’ fascinated with weapons and a history of abuse accusations from an ex-girlfriend.
‘This is one of those things where [we’d say], ‘Nima, you’re cool, we love you, but you don’t make full sentences,’ one long-time friend speaking on a condition of anonymity told Mission Local.
Friends of tech exec Nima Momeni – accused of killing Cash App founder Bob Lee – said his life was ‘unraveling’ in the weeks and months leading up to the alleged stabbing
‘I don’t think that’s true,’ Momeni’s attorney, Paula Canny, said in response. ‘I don’t think that he had a drug problem, a serious drug problem. Based on the info that I have, I certainly wouldn’t classify him as a drug addict.’
Canny has said that her client will plead not guilty.
The friend noted, however, that he was extremely close to sister Khazar, to the detriment of other friendships.
‘I don’t know who Nima considered his closest group, besides his sister,’ they said. ‘He would do absolutely anything for her and she would do anything for him.’
Hours before his murder, Nima had grilled Lee about his relationship with Khazar, who is married to a prominent local plastic surgeon, demanding to know whether she’d been ‘doing drugs’ or anything ‘inappropriate’ while spending time with him.
Momeni’s ex-girlfriend, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, suggested the tech executive’s father ‘created a monster.’
He expressed extreme hate for his dad,’ she added, saying the family may have fled Iran to get away from him.
Politically, Momeni was a bit hard to grasp, having donated in 2016 to Vermont socialist Bernie Sanders before giving to President Trump’s re-election campaign in 2020.
A friend noted that Momeni was extremely close to sister Khazar, to the detriment of other friendships
Nima Momeni stands up to exit the courtroom after an appearance in late April
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins speaks at a news conference after a courtroom appearance by Nima Momeni at the Hall of Justice in San Francisco
Momeni had lived the American dream, appeared to become a success in his 20s, starting Expand IT, a company that provided IT services, in 2010 after working as an IT administrator at Ace Glass.
However, multiple friends described Expand IT as a ‘hilarious s**tshow.’
‘He couldn’t keep anybody and not end up chewing them out for something they didn’t know — I saw it as mostly his fault,’ a friend said, adding that his drug abuse – including a daily cocaine habit – likely affected him.
By 2023, it was not certain that Momeni had anyone actually employed at Expand IT, with all calls to his business number answered by an automated message using his voice.
Canny denied this and said that Momeni had ‘several contractors’ working at the company, though did not appear to clarify if they were full-time employees.
His personal life was equally problematic, according to an ex-girlfriend.
‘He was not nice behind closed doors,’ she said. ‘Called me probably the worst names I’ve ever been called.’
She also said he would be threatening and possessive and did not like when spoke to other men. She suspected he would eventually physically abuse her.
Nima Momeni, right, listens to his attorney Paula Canny, who has said what his former friends and girlfriends are describing does not match her experience with Momeni
Momeni had lived the American dream, appeared to become a success in his 20s, starting Expand IT, a company that provided IT services, in 2010 after working as an IT administrator at Ace Glass
Judge Victor Hwang presides during the arraignment of Nima Momeni, the man charged in the fatal stabbing of Cash App founder Bob Lee, Tuesday, May 2
Police records say that he did become physically abusive, pushing and graving a woman at his California home in August 2022.
‘She believes that he may be bipolar, because one minute he will be fine and the next he will go off for no reason,’ a police report said as he was cited by never charged with battery.
‘I honestly think that he’s scary, and I always thought he was scary – after I got to know him,’ the ex-girlfriend said.
The outlet claimed he also frequented sex workers and his behavior with them led to his phone number showing up on a website that shared potentially dangerous clients.
Multiple reviews described him as a ‘boundary pusher’ and one accused him of having ‘snatched me by the hair after I said not to.’
Another review corroborated his cocaine use and called him ‘heavily armed,’ with others accusing him of owning ghost guns, the outlet reported.
‘He loved his guns. He talked about his guns all the time,’ said another former ex-girlfriend of Momeni, who also said he kept many knives. ‘He was a fan of violence.’
Canny denies the allegations about Momeni’s behavior with women and whether he owned firearms.
Khazar Momeni and her husband, plastic surgeon Dr. Dino Elyassnia today at her brother’s arraignment. Prosecutors laid out part of their case today and she is at the center of her brother’s alleged motive
Nima Momeni (left) vowed ‘came down way hard’ on Lee hours before the stabbing. Prosecutors say it was a planned attack in which he used a kitchen knife to stab Lee in the heart
On April 4, Lee was filmed on surveillance cameras staggering into an apartment building in downtown San Francisco at 2.35am after being stabbed. Yesterday, police searched the nearby apartment of Momeni’s sister, Khazar. It’s unclear if they’d been together or at the apartment earlier in the night
‘I don’t think he’s ever owned a firearm, I just think that’s not true,’ Canny said, but added she did not know for sure. ‘Based on what I know, I believe there was nothing of any evidentiary value found when the police searched Nima’s apartment on the night they arrested him.’
She added: ‘I don’t know how to react to that, either; that’s not my experience of Nima’ when asked about his abusive behavior, noting that ‘everybody has enemies’ who wanted to trash his reputation.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Canny and the Momeni family for further comment.
The day after the murder, a friend contacted Khazar and asked whether Lee had gone round to her apartment.
She said he had ‘for a second’ but that she ‘fell asleep’ and didn’t know when he left, according to the outlet.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins has charged Momeni with murder, alongside a further charge of special enhancement for using a knife.
In the motion filed today, her office said it was a pre-meditated attack carried out by the angry brother.
Surveillance footage is also said to have captured the stabbing in Momeni’s BMW.
He sped away afterwards, throwing his knife into the street, and leaving Lee to stagger through the San Francisco streets in a desperate, final attempt to cling to life.
Momeni depicted in a court sketch today. His sister was in the courtroom to support him. The pair immigrated to the US from Iran as children
He was taken to the hospital but died from his injuries.
Lee’s family have vowed to work with prosecutors to bring Momeni to ‘justice’.
They thanked police for making an arrest in a joint statement issued last night.
San Francisco officials have also gloated about the fact the killing was not random or a symptom of the city’s spiraling crime problem, as many had assumed it was.
Momeni was denied bail and will remain in custody until his next court date.
Neighbors told DailyMail.com he is ‘warm and welcoming’ and that they were stunned by his arrest.
Online, he claims to be a graduate of UC Berkeley, but the school says it has no record of him ever attending classes.
