The tech executive arrested for the fatal stabbing of Cash App founder Bob Lee had earlier spent time in prison. Nima Momeni, 38, an Iranian-American tech consultant, who was arrested on Thursday for stabbing Lee to death on April 4, had a previous arrest for carrying a switchblade.
Momeni, who is the founder of Bay Area startup, Expand IT, is now facing a murder charge for the high-profile stabbing. Moreover, it was also revealed that Momeni potentially lied about attending a prestigious Bay Area school. Many had initially thought that Lee's murder was the job of a vagrant given the rising crime rate in the city but Momeni's arrest has left everyone in shock.
Dark Past
Lee's death was cited as the most recent example of the city's rising crime rate, which led to increased criticism of Mayor London Breed.
However, she warned locals not to "jump to conclusions" about his death over the weekend, claiming that they "will be surprised when the facts come out."
Momeni's arrest on Thursday did exactly the same. Meanwhile, new details about Momeni's background continue to be revealed. Momeni is supposedly a graduate of UC Berkley, but the school says they have no record of the 38-year-old ever attending the prestigious institute.
He lived and worked at the rented condo where he was arrested. According to his neighbors, he is the only employee of his IT company.
Authorities have so far refused to comment on the extent of Momeni's relationship with Lee, saying only that they "knew each other."
However, according to police sources, the two were introduced through Momeni's sister, who owns a posh apartment complex near where Lee was found.
Momeni was arrested for a few misdemeanors earlier, including the 2011 one involving the illegal switchblade that police claimed he had been selling. However, he does not have a history of violent crime.
According to records, the allegation was ultimately dropped after the then 26-year-old pleaded guilty to another DUI-related offense of driving while suspended, which resulted in 10 days in county jail.
Both charges were deemed misdemeanors, and the perpetrator was finally sentenced to 10 days in jail and three years of probation.
According to documents, the case proceeded through the criminal courts of California in the first few months of 2011, just around the time Momeni founded the Bay Area business Extend IT.
A Bigger Crime This Time
The tech entrepreneur was charged with drunk driving in 2004 after moving to the US with his mother sometime after the Iranian revolution.
Momeni was arrested once again on Thursday morning and charged with killing Lee after being tracked down to his posh penthouse inside a converted industrial condominium building.
Neighbors reported hearing loud bangs from police officers hammering on the suspected murderer's door as officers arrived at the scene around five in the morning.
Momeni, who had been living and working in a large apartment, was apparently arrested without any incident.
According to Momeni's LinkedIn account, his startup Expand IT provides outsourcing of IT services, such as cybersecurity and website hosting, to businesses involved in the manufacturing, health care, and legal industries as well as other startups.
The company's official website and LinkedIn page were both deleted after word of the relatively minor techie's arrest emerged on Thursday.
Momeni claims on his profile that he attended UC Berkeley, but the university has no record of anyone attending or graduating under his name, according to a spokeswoman on Thursday.
Police on Thursday didn't reveal how Momeni met Lee, who lived in Miami and had been in San Francisco on a business trip, except that the attack wasn't random.
According to reports from local media, Momeni's sister Khazar Momeni, who they claim recently met Lee, may have introduced the two.
She is married to Dr. Dino Elyassnia, a well-known plastic surgeon whose office is located in San Francisco.
Khazar, also known as Khazar Elyassnia, is the listed owner of an apartment in the expensive building Millennium, which is situated barely four blocks from the scene of Lee's death and a block from the hotel where he had been staying.
According to a friend of Lee, Momeni and Lee partied the night before the stabbing and into the early hours of Tuesday.
Some sources, however, claim that the two men were driving together in Momeni's vehicle through downtown San Francisco when they got into an altercation, resulting in Momeni fatally stabbing Lee.
