Cash App Co-Founder Murder: Solution Provider Owner Arrested

Local news site Mission Local first identified the suspect as Nima Momeni, owner of Expand IT. San Francisco police later confirmed the report.

Cash App co-founder Bob Lee

San Francisco authorities have arrested a solution provider owner as the suspected killer of Cash App co-founder Bob Lee.

Nima Momeni, described on his LinkedIn account as the owner of Emeryville, Calif.-based Expand IT, was named as the lone suspected killer in a Thursday press conference that was streamed online. Lee was stabbed to death on April 4 in San Francisco, located across the Bay from Emeryville.

“The case is not closed yet, but at this point we’re focused on the person that we know as the suspect,” SF Police Chief Bill Scott said during the conference. “So the case is not closed. It’s an ongoing investigation. But this is, right now, this Mr. Momeni is our focus and the single suspect in this case.”

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Cash App Co-Founder Murder Arrest

CRN has reached out to SFPD, Momeni and others listed on LinkedIn as Expand employees for comment.

News outlet Mission Local first reported on Momeni’s arrest.

SF District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said during the press conference that Momeni faces a charge of murder and an enhancement for allegedly killing Lee with a knife.

The authorities said that Lee and Momeni knew each other, but would not go into how the men knew each other.

“While nothing can heal the pain of Mr. Lee’s loss, thank you for putting your trust in the San Francisco Police Department and now in my office to ensure that we seek justice in this case,” Jenkins said. “I acknowledge and understand how the loss of a young, vibrant leader and innovator has rocked our city and even beyond.”

SF Officials Criticize Musk

Jenkins also criticized Twitter, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk for a tweet about safety in San Francisco as a result of Lee’s murder.

“While we’re not going to release any additional facts at this time, I must point out that reckless and irresponsible statements – like those contained in Mr. Musk’s tweet that assumed incorrect circumstances about Mr. Lee’s death – serve to mislead the world in their perceptions of San Francisco and also negatively impact the pursuit of justice for victims of crime as it spreads misinformation at a time when the police are trying to solve a very difficult case,” she said.

On April 5, Musk tweeted that he was “very sorry” to hear about Lee’s death and that “violent crime in SF is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately.”

Expand IT describes itself as providing “IT outsourcing” and “technical support and fulfillment solutions at scale to startups, SMEs, public sector, and nonprofit organizations” on its website.

Online records for the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department show a person with Momeni’s name and aged 38 in jail facing a murder charge. He was booked Thursday at 9:19 a.m. Pacific and does not have a bond.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Momeni has a record. He was charged in 2011 with two misdemeanors – allegedly selling a switchblade knife and driving with a suspended license.

The knife charge was dismissed while Momeni pleaded no contest to the suspended license charge, receiving a sentence of 10 days in jail, three years of probation and a $900-plus fine, according to the Chronicle. He also had to destroy the knife.

Momeni was charged in 2004 with a misdemeanor for allegedly driving while intoxicated, according to the Chronicle.

Mission Local said that Momeni and Lee knew each other and drove around together in downtown San Francisco in the early hours of April 4, the day Lee was stabbed to death.

The knife used to stab Lee multiple times was found near where police officers responded to the stabbing, according to Mission Local.

The death of Lee, 43, elicited reactions from heavy hitters in the tech industry, including Musk; Twitter and Block co-founder Jack Dorsey; and YCombinator CEO Garry Tan.

Lee was also credited with developing the Android mobile operating system during his time at Google.

Momeni’s LinkedIn account shows that he’s owned Expand – based in Emeryville, Calif., across the Bay from San Francisco – since 2010.

The company has about eight employees, according to its LinkedIn profile. The company does not appear to have any reviews on Yelp.

Momeni’s resume includes more than 17 years as a tech consultant with companies including Diablo IT and Coast Range IT. He also worked as a system and network engineer with a company called Marfic, leaving in 2007.

Other high-profile crime cases in the channel include the 2018 arrest of Paul Caneiro, vice president of New Jersey-based solution provider Square One. Caneiro awaits trial for the murder of his brother – the company’s founder – his sister-in-law and their children.

In 2016, Braulio Castillo, former president and CEO of Virginia-based government-focused reseller Strong Castle, was convicted of murder.