Nima Momeni says Bob Lee attacked him over a bad joke, leading to stabbing

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — During combative cross-examination Thursday, a government prosecutor grilled Nima Momeni, a tech worker accused of stabbing and killing Cash App founder Bob Lee in April 2023, repeatedly telling Momeni that his version of events just before the stabbing do not make sense.

On Wednesday, Momeni took the stand in his own defense and said that Lee attacked him after he made a bad joke about Lee’s family.

The joke? An anecdote about Lee spending time at a strip club on his last night in San Francisco rather than spending time with his family. Momeni said the joke immediately enraged Lee, who began circling and swearing at Momeni.

“So, he lost his mind and wanted to kill you over a bad joke?” San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Omid Talai asked on Thursday.

“He got angry at me, he got aggressive, he pulled a knife out, and I defended myself. He said, ‘You think I’m a bad fucking dad? I’m going to fuck you up.’ He was angry, circling me,” Momeni said, wiping away tears at times.

Momeni said he blocked the knife and wrestled it away from Lee before throwing it over a fence, and said that he did not know that Lee was stabbed after their confrontation.

“I see him take his knife, I’m afraid for my life, so I have to defend myself … it was so fast. It was moving so fast,” Momeni said.

After disarming Lee, Momeni said he did not know what happened to Lee as Momeni fled and Lee walked up the city block in the opposite direction. Momeni noted that there were homeless people in the area that could have attacked Lee.

Momeni also said he immediately called his sister Khazar Momeni after the attack, warning her to lock her doors and not let Lee in her apartment.

Talai turned up the heat on Momeni, pointing out logical gaps in Momeni’s recollection of events. Talai showed text messages from Khazar Momeni where she asked her brother what had happened to Lee, contradicting Momeni’s testimony that he told his sister that Lee attacked him.

Momeni and Lee had spent the early morning hours of April 4, 2023, at Khazar Momeni’s residence at the Millenium Tower. Momeni said that he and Lee were having a good time — he called Lee a “good guy,” and said he and Lee were on good terms when they left the residence around 2 a.m. Momeni said he didn’t know Lee had a knife or where he got it from.

“Would you agree that it doesn’t make sense for a guy having a good time to just grab a knife?” Talai asked.

“People do crazy things when they’re high,” Momeni answered.

Momeni’s defense said that Lee was on a multi-day drug bender when he attacked Lee. The prosecution has argued that Momeni was acting as a protective older brother and was upset because he believed Lee’s drug dealer had drugged and sexually assaulted his sister.

Talai pressed Momeni further, asking why Momeni did not call the police or text or email anyone that Lee had attacked him, especially after news coverage of Lee’s death began to spread.

“The next day, you learned he’s dead, and you don’t want to know any of the details? Do you see how that doesn’t make any sense?” Talai asked Momeni.

Momeni answered again that he didn’t know Lee was injured after the attack.

“He walked away on his phone normally. Just turned around and walked away,” Momeni said.

In the days after Lee was killed, Talai noted that Momeni exhibited bizarre behavior: he began parking his car at his mother’s residence rather than at his own home in Emeryville and bought four different “burner” phones.

Police who seized the phones said there was no content on them relating to Momeni’s tech work. Momeni said he was using them for “testing purposes.”

“As the days go by, are you thinking no one will find out this little secret and you’re just going to get away with it?” Talai asked.

Momeni answered that Talai was misrepresenting the situation, and that he contacted his attorneys as soon as he heard Lee was dead on April 5. Momeni would ultimately be arrested on April 13.

Momeni appeared frustrated on the stand, frequently interrupting Talai and Superior Court Judge Alexandra Gordon. On one occasion he accused Talai of pushing an agenda and asked Talai to show the jury full text chain messages rather than just snippets.

Outside the courtroom, Lee’s brother, Tim Lee, told reporters that Momeni’s testimony was “ridiculous" and that he was behaving like a bully on the stand.

“Nothing lines up. Knowing Bob, knowing his personality, it’s so far out of his character [to be aggressive.] It’s not something that ever existed," Tim Lee said.

The trial continues next week.