AP
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A jury in San Francisco on Tuesday found a technology consultant guilty of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee.

Jurors took seven days to return their verdict against Nima Momeni in the April 4, 2023, death of Lee, a beloved tech mogul who was found staggering on a deserted downtown street, leaving a trail of blood behind him and called for help. Lee, 43, later died at a hospital.

Prosecutors said Momeni planned the attack on Lee, driving him to a secluded spot under the Bay Bridge and stabbing him three times with a knife he took from his sister’s kitchen. They say Momeni was angry at Lee for introducing his younger sister to a drug dealer who allegedly gave her GHB and other drugs and then sexually abused her.

But Momeni testified on the witness stand that Lee was the one who attacked him with a knife and was angry after the technical adviser scolded him for spending more time with his family that night instead of going to a strip club to search. Momeni, who studies martial arts, claimed self-defense and said he did not know he had fatally injured Lee or that Lee was even injured.

The jury received the case, which began on October 14th, on December 4th.

Momeni was charged with first-degree murder, but the jury would have found him guilty of second-degree murder or manslaughter.

A conviction of second-degree murder in this case carries a sentence of 16 years to life in prison.

Momeni, 40, has been in custody since his arrest in April 2023.

In a 2023 press release announcing a murder charge against Momeni, prosecutor Brooke Jenkins said he could face 26 years to life in prison if convicted.

Lee had developed the mobile payment service Cash App and was chief product officer of the cryptocurrency MobileCoin when he died. He had moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to Miami, where his ex-wife Krista Lee lives with their two children.