Tensions escalate in Bob Lee murder trial as prosecutors grill suspect's sister

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — In exchanges that sometimes grew testy, prosecutors attempted to discredit Khazar Momeni’s testimony about what happened in the days and hours before Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App, was found stabbed in April 2023.

Momeni’s brother, Nima Momeni, is accused of murdering Lee. Prosecutors say he stabbed Lee because he believed Lee was giving his sister drugs and partying with her. The defense claims Nima Momeni stabbed Lee in self defense because Lee was acting aggressively to him after a multi-day drug bender.

Prosecutor Dane Reinstedt repeatedly accused Khazar Momeni of being evasive when she testified under direct examination last week. He pointed out that she only remembered key details such as dates, messages and more when the defense was questioning her cross examination, a detail he said is even more telling because she is paying for her brother’s lawyers.

Momeni had testified on Tuesday that Lee was aggressive and was using drugs in the day before his death and that she was drugged and sexually assaulted by a drug dealer, Jeremy Boivin, at Boivin’s residence.

Momeni said Lee had introduced the two. She said her brother was calm when he learned of the assault and picked her up from Boivin’s residence, and she never brought up Bob Lee’s name in relation to the drugging or sexual assault.

On her fourth day on the stand Wednesday, Reinstedt asked Momeni if all of the drugs she was consuming around the time of Lee’s death, including GHB, LSD, cocaine, nitrous oxide and alcohol could have affected her memory of certain events.

Momeni said that the drug use could have affected her memory, but said that she had gained consciousness when she called her family.

“The height of the impact was when I passed out,” from the GHB, she told Reinstedt.

Reinstedt said that she was still under the influence, hammering at her reliability as a witness.

“Imagine the things that you don’t remember,” Reinstated said, prompting a booming objection from Saam Zangeneh, Nima Momeni’s defense attorney.

Reinstedt pressed on, asking how she could possibly remember with clarity that her brother was calm amid all of the drugs she was using.

Momeni replied that Nima’s demeanor “warmed my heart, the way he was handling the situation, so I remember it.”

“How can you be sure which things were real and which things were not real that you were experiencing?” Reinstedt asked, noting that LSD can make people hallucinate.

“I don’t know how to answer that question,” Momeni replied.

The courtroom grew tense, and Lee’s ex-wife Krista Lee left the courtroom emotional at the first morning break. Following the break, Superior Court Judge Alexandra Gordon barred Krista Lee from entering the courtroom while Momeni was still on the stand.

Reinstedt also pressed Momeni about text messages sent shortly after Lee’s murder, where she called her brother “fucking psychotic.”  Momeni said those messages were not about Nima Momeni being angry at Lee, but were because her husband had caught her with Boivin in their Millennium Tower residence.

“Now when the lawyers that you’re paying asked you about those same messages, he told you those messages were not about Bob … I’m just trying to understand why different things were said on Thursday versus yesterday,” Reinstedt said.

The messages included a message where Nima said he didn’t know what happened to Lee the night of the murder, as well as messages about Nima opening a rape case against two unspecified individuals.

Momeni also testified that she felt intimidated by attempts from Krista Lee to reach her after the murder. In one of the messages, Krista Lee asks a friend to help her locate Momeni, whom she called “the whore of high tower.”

“I called my lawyer right away, I was shaken, I was so scared,” Momeni said, testifying that she told her lawyer to call the cops.

Reinstedt asked why Momeni didn’t call the cops herself.

“I let my lawyer know to speak to the cops. I’m not allowed to unless my lawyer agrees that I should,” Momeni said.

On recross, Zangeneh told the jury that Momeni never intended to be evasive with the prosecution; instead, he argued that the exhibits, including text messages and videos with time stamps, jogged Momeni’s memory.

“I provided a road map as to the essential timeline as to what occurred,” Zangeneh said.

Testimony continues Thursday morning, with members of law enforcement expected to testify.