By Olga R. Rodriguez and Stefanie Dazio
A self-proclaimed tech consultant was arrested Thursday in the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee last week in San Francisco, police said.
Nima Momeni, 38, was booked on suspicion of murder, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said during a news conference. He was taken into custody Thursday morning in Emeryville, a San Francisco suburb.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said Momeni will be charged with murder in Lee's death and is expected to be arraigned Friday. Prosecutors will ask a judge to hold him without bail.
Scott declined to give details on how they linked the death to Momeni or how the men knew each other. The chief also refused to disclose a possible motive for the killing.
Police found Lee with stab wounds in the Rincon Hill neighborhood of San Francisco at 2:30 a.m. April 4. He died at a hospital.
Investigators served search warrants in San Francisco and Emeryville, but Scott would not say whether a weapon has been found.
Lee is known for creating the widely used mobile payment service Cash App while working as chief technology officer of the payment company Square, now known as Block. He was the chief product officer for the cryptocurrency firm MobileCoin at the time of his death.
“I acknowledge and understand how the loss of a young, vibrant leader and innovator has rocked our city and even beyond,” Jenkins said.
On his LinkedIn profile, Momeni describes himself as an “IT Consultant/Entrepreneur” as well as the owner of a company called Expand IT.
It was not immediately clear whether Momeni has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
“I hope today’s arrest can begin a process of healing and closure for all those touched by this tragedy,” Matt Dorsey, another San Francisco supervisor, tweeted Thursday morning.
Prominent tech leaders took to social media to mourn Lee's death and blame San Francisco for what they call the city's lax attitude toward crime. Scott and Jenkins pushed back against that narrative on Thursday, with the prosecutor specifically naming tech billionaire Elon Musk for commenting on the case.
“This doesn't have to do with San Francisco, this has to do with human nature,” Scott said.
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Janie Har contributed to this report. Dazio reported from Los Angeles.
