In a shocking turn of events, a tech consultant has been arrested and charged with the murder of Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App. The gregarious and well-liked Lee was found with stab wounds in San Francisco's Rincon Hill neighborhood on April 4th, and later died in hospital. The tech industry was left reeling by the news, with former colleagues and friends mourning the loss of a brilliant and generous man.
Nima Momeni, 38, was taken into custody on Thursday morning in the San Francisco suburb of Emeryville, and booked on suspicion of murder. San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott confirmed that Momeni and Lee knew each other, but declined to provide further details on their connection. He also refused to disclose a possible motive, or how the police linked Momeni to the killing.
Momeni describes himself on LinkedIn as an "IT Consultant/Entrepreneur" and the owner of a company called Expand IT. He has been "a dedicated technology partner since 2005," according to his profile, and started Expand IT in 2010. Business filings with the state list Momeni as the CEO, secretary, and CFO of Expand IT INC, an information technology consulting business that he signed for in August 2022.
It remains unclear whether Momeni has an attorney who could speak on his behalf. He was charged with carrying a switchblade in 2011, according to criminal records, but the case was dismissed the following year after he took a plea.
Lee was known for his work as chief technology officer of the payment company Square, which is now known as Block, and for creating the widely used mobile payment service Cash App. At the time of his death, he was the chief product officer for the cryptocurrency firm MobileCoin. Friends and colleagues described him as adventurous and fearless, as well as a devoted father to his two children.
Lee's killing sparked an outpouring of grief from the tech industry, with prominent figures such as Elon Musk taking to Twitter to mourn his death and criticize what they called San Francisco's lax attitude towards crime. However, Mayor London Breed and other city officials pushed back against this narrative, with District Attorney Brooke Jenkins specifically addressing Musk's comments in a statement. She described his remarks as "reckless and irresponsible," and accused him of spreading misinformation about the city.
