Cash app -founder Bob Lee’s murder shook Silicon Valley but for his dear it was personal

The daughter of Bob Lee, the technical director, whose deadly stabbing stabbing almost two years ago sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley and stooked the debate on violent crime in San Francisco, said she felt her “belly” under the dramatic end to the trial against her father’s accused killer.

After seven days of consideration, a jury in December acquired tech consultant Nima Momeni from the first degree of murder in Lee’s April 4, 2023, who killed.

“I felt a ringing in my ear,” Scout Lee, 16, told “Dateline” in his first conversation about his father’s death and the murder attempt. “I just felt so overwhelmed.”

“I grabbed my mother’s hand and pressed it and cried,” she added.

FOr more about the case, set out “Under The Bay Bridge” on “Dateline” at 9 ET/8 CT tonight.

The scout-there described herself as her father’s “Mini Me” stated that she felt some relief when moments after the acquittal was announced, Momeni was convicted of the minor crime for the murder of the second degree.

“But I do not know if it was the type of justice I wanted,” she said, adding that prosecutors had, in her opinion, presented overwhelming evidence that the murder was overlooked.

The San Francisco District Attorney’s office accused Momeni, 40, of committing the murder after his sister told him she had been sexually assaulted by a man to whom Lee introduced her to.

This man, Jeremy Boivin, was never indicted for the alleged assault. In his first conversation since the trial, Boivin denied the claim to “Dateline” and said he never assaulted Momeni’s sister, Khazar Momeni.

During the trial, which began in October, Momeni testified that he was defending himself when he mortally wounded Lee. He faces a 16 -year -old prison period of life and plans to appeal his conviction.

Momenis penalty is set to May 16.

An evening of partying becomes deadly

Lee, 43, founded the popular money transfer service cash app and was a performer on Square and Mobile Coin. He was stabbed three times with a paring knife Under Bay Bridge, east of the center of San Francisco. One of the wounds punctured his heart, San Francisco Police Sgt. Brent Dittmer told “Dateline.”

Lee called 911 around 7 p.m. 02:30 and asked for help dozens of times before collapsing in front of a nearby apartment building, according to audio from the call and security video. He was declared dead at a nearby hospital.

In the wake of Lee’s death, some-inclusive Elon Musk killed what they described as violent violent crime in San Francisco. (The city Then an increase in killings in 2020 and 2021Although this number has since fallen to a near -historically low.)

Authorities rejected the claim – San Francisco -District Attorney Brooke Jenkins called it “ruthless and irresponsible” – and said the killing had been carried out by someone Lee knew.

During the trial, prosecutors said Momeni was furious after his sister claimed she had been assaulted during a small gathering in Boivin’s apartment on April 3. Khazar Momeni, who had been friends with Lee for nearly a decade, testified that alleged assault arose while she was high on cocaine, LSD and GHB, a depressant attached to date rape and sexual assault.

She testified that Boivin let go of her ass while her pants were down and she was unable to move.

Boivin did not testify at Momeni’s trial. In an interview, he acknowledged that he smuggled her bottom, but said he had done it “randomly.” He and Khazar Momeni had a physical relationship for months after this event, Boivin said.

“So her to say that these accusations are just baseless and really unfounded,” he said to “Dateline.”

After the alleged assault, Khazar Momeni testified, she told her brother about what she said happened.

A tense phone call between Nima Momeni and Lee followed. The call was heard by a friend of Lees who later described the conversation to the authorities.

“He interrogates Bob,” said San Francisco Assisting District Attorney Omid Talai to “Dateline.” “He questions him what happened” in the apartment.

In the hours after the call, Lee met with Nima and Khazar Momeni in her home. During the trial, prosecutors Nima Momeni accused of taking a paring knife from his sister’s kitchen, where investigators later found the same brand of magazine used in Lee’s killing.

Authorities had found the 3 ½ inch knife after following a blood track from the apartment building, where Lee collapsed into a fence a half -block away, Dittmer said. The blade was on the other side of the fence.

Momeni’s defense team described Lee’s death as an act of self -defense, which Lee’s drug -powered Bender was asked.

Momeni testified that he had originally been upset by his sister’s claim of sexual assault, but after talking to several people who had been in Boivin’s apartment, he said he thought her account was probably an exaggeration. After he met with Lee in his sister’s place, Momeni testified that the two planned to hang together at a strip club.

They made cocaine together, Momeni testified, and while on his way to the club, Momeni said Lee wasted a beer he had been drinking. After pulling over to clean up the mess, Momeni testified that Lee found “whippit” cans in the back seat and began to breathe nitrogen oxide.

When Lee said he thought he would vomit, Momeni Lee riped and asked the practice why he was going to strip clubs instead of being with his family at home, Momeni testified.

“That’s when the conversation went from normal to contradictory,” Momeni’s lawyer, Saam Zangeneh, told “Dateline.”

According to Momeni’s report, the comment raged Lee, who was divorced and lived in Miami, but visited San Francisco. Momeni testified that Lee lung against him with a knife that caused Momeni to grab Lee’s arm and accidentally Push the blade toward the chest.

Momeni testified that he left the stage of believing that Lee was fine.

The pain at the courtroom

Scout participated in parts of the trial and described it as annoying. The sound of her father’s 911 call, she said, “just keeps calling in my head.”

Her older brother, Sirius Lee, thought he could handle watching a high resolution security video of his father collapse.

“I’m pretty strong when it just doesn’t show emotion,” he said. “The more and more I had to sit through it, the more and more I felt like I really wanted to go out.”

Sirius knew about his father’s drug use, he said, but it never made him feel insecure.

Scout was less aware of Lee’s loads, she said, and it was hard to see him portrayed in a way in violation of the person she had always known.

“He wasn’t just a party animal that went out like every single night,” she said. “He was my father.”

For her, Lee was a dedicated father who always helped with homework and had an approach to parents who made her feel safe and calm. His death had been particularly harsh, she said, because in the days before he was stabbed, he had traveled to San Francisco to see her perform in a spectacle.

“It was one of the biggest roles I’ve ever had,” she said. “And he just embraced me and congratulated me doing a good job.”

“It was the last time I ever saw him,” she said.