Holly MatkinBy Holly Matkin and Sandy Malone
San Francisco, CA – Autopsy results have revealed new details about the night Cash App creator and former Square Chief Technology Officer Bob Lee was stabbed to death outside his luxury high-rise apartment building last month.
The San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner released 43-year-old Lee’s autopsy report on May 1, NBC News reported.
The report revealed Lee was stabbed once in the hip and twice in the chest during the deadly attack.
One of the stab wounds to his chest was between two and three inches deep and had pierced the “right posterior lateral inferior ventricle” and the “right lateral anterior ventricle of the heart,” the medical examiner said, according to NBC News.
The report further noted Lee had ingested ketamine, cocaine, alcohol, and cetirizine allergy medication prior to his murder.
Toxicology results also included the presence of metabolized byproducts of ketamine and cocaine, as well as cocaethylene, which forms when cocaine and alcohol are combined, NBC News reported.
However, the report did not indicate that the substances found in Lee’s body had contributed to his death.
Lee died by homicide caused by sharp injury, according to the medical examiner.
San Francisco police arrested 38-year-old tech worker Nima Momeni on April 13 in connection with Lee’s murder, The Week reported.
Momeni’s defense attorney, Paula Canny, said Lee’s drug use cannot be ignored with regards to what occurred the night of his death, according to NBC News.
“There’s a lot of drugs in Bob Lee’s system. I mean, Bob Lee’s system is like the Walgreens of recreational drugs,” Canny told reporters outside the San Francisco Hall of Justice after a pretrial hearing on May 2.
“What happens when people take drugs? Generally, they act like drug people, and what drug people act like is not themselves, not happy-go-lucky,” she said. “Just kind of illusory and make bad decisions and do bad things.”
The incident occurred in the 300-block of Main Street shortly after 2:30 a.m. on April 4, KRON reported.
Police said they believe Lee and his killer were riding together in a vehicle registered to Momeni when a confrontation occurred inside the car and then spilled out onto the street, according to The Week.
Security footage showed Lee appearing to have a verbal altercation of some sort and running into the middle of the street in front of a car, attempting to get help, according to KNTV.
But the driver didn’t stop and the video showed Lee’s attacker chased him around the vehicle, took the tech giant to the ground, and began viciously stabbing him over and over again.
Only when Lee was down in the middle road and had stopped moving did his attacker stop and stroll away from the scene as if nothing had happened, the surveillance video showed.
A second video filmed from inside the lobby of Lee’s high rise showed that he was able to get up and walk back to the doors of his building before he collapsed to the ground.
Lee was rushed to a local hospital, where doctors spent nearly four hours trying to save his life, NBC News reported.
He was pronounced dead at 6:49 a.m.
According to court documents, Lee and Momeni got into an argument over Lee’s sister, Khazar “Tina” Elyassnia, sometime prior to the fatal stabbing, NBC News reported.
“Just wanted to make sure your doing ok Cause know nima came wayyyyyy down hard on you,” she wrote in a text to Lee regarding the verbal confrontation between the two men, according to police.
Prosecutors claimed that Momeni confronted Lee about Elyassnia’s “inappropriate” behavior and alleged drug use just hours before Lee was murdered, according to the New York Post.
Police said Elyassnia, who is married, knew Lee for years prior to his death.
Lee was later seen heading into Elyassnia’s apartment at approximately 12:39 a.m. on April 4, the New York Post reported.
Security footage showed Momeni and Lee taking an elevator down to the lobby of the apartment building where Elyassnia lives shortly after 2 a.m., according to court documents.
Momeni and Lee then got into Momeni’s white BMW, which soon pulled up at the location where Lee was stabbed to death, according to the New York Post.
Colleagues said Lee was in San Francisco visiting friends after a recent MobileCoin leadership summit, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur was an executive at MobileCoin and also helped develop Android, KRON reported.
Lee was a consultant for multiple companies and worked as a web developer for Southeast Missouri State University prior to moving to San Francisco to work at Google in 2004, according to the news outlet.
Ten years later, he became the chief technology officer at Square, where he played a role in launching MobileCoin and Cash App.
Lee was also an angel investor in a slew of companies, including Found, Netswitch, SiPhox, Gowalla, Ticket Fairy, Nana, Addressable, Orchid, Faire, Figma, Tile, Clubhouse, and SpaceX, KRON reported.
Momeni’s neighbors said he has operated his business, Expand IT, out of his Emeryville apartment since at least 2021, the Los Angeles Times reported.
According to his LinkedIn account, Momeni founded the company in 2010 and partnered with clients in finance, healthcare, and other markets, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Momeni was charged with misdemeanor driving under the influence back in 2004, but that charge was ultimately dismissed.
He was charged in Alameda County in 2011 with selling a switchblade knife and driving with a suspended license, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Momeni pleaded no contest to the suspended license charge and the weapon offense was ultimately dismissed.
He was sentenced to 10 days in jail, followed by three years of probation, the Los Angeles Times reported.
