Tech entrepreneur arrested in killing of Cash App founder Bob Lee

San Francisco Police on Thursday arrested Nima Momeni in the stabbing death of tech executive Bob Lee, one of the founders of CashApp.

Momeni and Lee knew each other, according to police, though how is still unknown. Momeni runs an IT services company in the Bay Area, according to his profile on LinkedIn and state records.

Lee was killed in the early morning of April 4 in the downtown Rincon Hill neighborhood. The killing was initially misinterpreted by many on social media as a random act and a signal of rising crime in San Francisco. 

Elon Musk took to his platform, Twitter, using the crime to criticize San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.

“Violent crime in SF is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately,” he said. “Is the city taking stronger action to incarcerate repeat violent offenders @BrookeJenkinsSF?”

Jenkins on Thursday called Musk’s comments “reckless and irresponsible” and that they “assumed incorrect circumstances” about the attack and “spread misinformation.”

No information has been made public on a possible motive for the crime or any additional details.

After helping found CashApp, Lee was an executive at the cryptocurrency firm MobileCoin.

“From large contributions to Android at Google, to being the first CTO of Square, in that time creating Cash App, and working with us here at MobileCoin, Bob surely had an impact that will last far beyond his short time on earth,” MobileCoin CEO Josh Goldbard said in a statement after Lee’s death last week.

Lee’s family released a statement thanking police on Thursday.

“Every day around the world, people interact with technology that Bob helped create. Bob will live on through these interactions and his dreams of improving all of our lives,” Lee’s family said in a statement Thursday.

“Our next steps will be to work with the District Attorney’s office to ensure that this person is not allowed to hurt anyone else or walk free,” the statement reads.