Tech consultant testifies that ‘bad joke’ led to fatal collision with Cash App founder Bob Lee

SAN FRANCISCO – The tech consultant charged in the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee testified in his own defense Wednesday that he made a “bad joke” in an attempt to end a late night of drinking and drugging. and the famous entrepreneur suddenly attacked him.

In his first public statements about the events leading to Lee’s death, Nima Momeni said he joked to Lee that he might want to spend his last night in San Francisco with family instead of trying to find a strip club.

Momeni said Lee pulled out a knife and attacked him, forcing him to defend himself. He said Lee later walked away and showed no signs of being injured. Momeni said he called a lawyer when he learned of Lee’s death the next day.

“He’s a big famous guy,” he said. “I’m just an ordinary boy, an immigrant.”

Lee, 43, was found staggering on a deserted street in downtown San Francisco, dripping a trail of blood and crying for help. He later died in a hospital.

Prosecutors say Momeni, 40, planned the April 4, 2023, attack after a dispute over his younger sister, Khazar Momeni, with whom Lee was friends. They say Momeni grabbed a knife from a unique set in his sister’s apartment, drove Lee to a secluded area, stabbed him three times and then fled.

The defense says Lee was erratic and aggressive because he slept only six hours during a four-day period during which he used cocaine, ketamine and drank.

Momeni has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he faces 26 years to life in prison.

But Momeni, who took the witness stand on Wednesday, said the two men were friends when his sister kicked them both out of her apartment at 2am because she wanted to sleep after hours of partying and taking drugs.

Momeni said they got into his BMW and he started driving while Lee checked on his phone where to go. He stopped the car after they drove over a pothole, causing Lee to spill his beer. Lee got out of the car and Momeni followed, thinking Lee was about to puke.

That’s when he said he made the “bad joke” about seeing family.

“He just went from zero to 100,” Momeni said. “You could see the anger.”

Assistant District Attorney Omid Talai scoffed at the story during cross-examination Wednesday.

“He wanted to kill you because of a bad joke?” Talai said incredulously.

“I’m not sure why he pulled it out,” Momeni said. “I feared for my life.”

Momeni pushed back Wednesday afternoon when Talai questioned him about text messages and testimonials from others. The cross-examination will continue on Thursday.

Surveillance video of Lee’s last night shows him entering the swanky Millennium Tower downtown, where Momeni’s sister lives with her husband, a prominent San Francisco plastic surgeon.

The video also shows Lee and Momeni leaving the building after 2 a.m. and driving away together in Momeni’s car. Grainy video also shows the two men getting out of the car at a remote spot near the Bay Bridge.

Prosecutors say Momeni stabbed Lee there, while the defense says Lee attacked Momeni there.

Police recovered a knife with a 4-inch blade in the remote area where Lee was stabbed. Prosecutors said tests showed Momeni’s DNA on the gun’s handle and Lee’s DNA on the bloody knife, but the defense presented an expert witness who said police should have tested the handle for fingerprints, namely Lee’s.

Lee’s death stunned the tech community as fellow executives and engineers paid tribute to the charismatic entrepreneur’s generosity and genius. Lee was Chief Product Officer of cryptocurrency platform MobileCoin when he died. He was the father of two children.