The family of Cash App founder Bob Lee is suing Nima Momeni, Lee’s convicted killer, as well as Momeni’s sister, brother-in-law and mother for their purported role in assisting him after the murder. The family is also suing the owners of a San Francisco apartment complex for releasing security footage of a mortally wounded Lee staggering through city streets.
The civil lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court on March 28, accuses Momeni’s sister, Khazar Momeni, his mother, Mahnaz Tayarani, and Khazar’s husband, Dr. Dino Elyassnia, of conspiracy and aiding and abetting Nima Momeni after the killing.
Momeni was convicted by a jury in December of second-degree murder in Lee’s stabbing death. Momeni stabbed Lee on a dark and secluded street in the Rincon Hill area of San Francisco in April 2023.
Momeni had claimed that he acted in self-defense after Lee attacked him first.
The Lee family is seeking a jury trial that will determine the amount of damages to be paid, including the sum that Lee would have been able to earn had he lived, as well as compensation for Lee’s death.
Reached by phone, Momeni’s lead trial attorney, Saam Zangeneh, said he was unaware of the lawsuit and had not read it, but seemed baffled that the Lee family would sue.
“Aren’t they rich enough? Wow, they sure do like the limelight,” Zangeneh said.
Messages for the family’s attorneys, and for Lee’s ex-wife and mother of his two children, Krista Lee, were not immediately returned.
After the stabbing, Momeni fled in his white BMW, which was not located until weeks after his arrest, 10 days after the murder.
The lawsuit accuses Momeni’s family of knowing Momeni committed the murder the day it happened, and of helping him “hide and/or destroy evidence.” That includes storing Momeni’s BMW “so that it could not immediately be found by the investigating officers of the San Francisco Police Department and the Plaintiffs” and eventually trying to sell it.
It was revealed during the criminal trial that Momeni’s mother and sister had attempted to sell the car to the BMW dealership in San Francisco.
The lawsuit also accuses Momeni’s family of “intentional infliction of emotional distress,” calling their actions “extreme and outrageous and outside the bounds of common decency and human behavior.”
Zangeneh said Momeni’s family “didn’t get rid of anything,” and called the allegation that the family deleted information off their phones — a claim made by prosecutors during the murder trial — “crazy talk.”
Momeni, who faces 15 years to life in prison, was also accused of negligence and wrongful death in the lawsuit.
Lee’s two children, the suit said, have been “permanently deprived of [Lee’s] love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, and moral support and guidance.”
Also named in the lawsuit is the owner of the Portside Apartments on Main Street, SF Oakland Bay LLC, plus the Portside Homeowners’ Association, the Portside Master Owners’ Association, and a security company that manages the apartment’s security footage.
The suit alleges that the Portside, outside of which Lee was found bleeding to death, caused the family “significant emotional distress” by releasing surveillance footage of Lee’s final moments staggering around on Main Street after the stabbing.
“The footage was not a legitimate public concern,” the suit reads.
Video shows Lee approach the Portside apartment call box and apparently try to call for help, to no avail. Lee could be seen falling repeatedly before police and medics arrived to find him unconscious.
The footage “was released to the news media without the permission of Bob’s Estate, heirs or family,” the suit reads. “Bob’s two children, who were both minors at the time of his death, saw the video footage on news reports, and they were horrified at what they saw in the video.”
Zangeneh is contemptible for suggesting that the family of murdered victim is seeking “limelight” as if this is some kind of theater for them. For Zangeneh this crime certainly is a show, and he’s a star in his mind
What’s the word–chutzpah? Lawyer for murderer from rich family criticizes victim’s family for seeking civil damages. This is O.J. level crazy.
Trashy Miami lawyer slighting children of a murder victim who are seeking damages from his trashy clients who lied to the court and hid evidence.
They may have money but they will never have their father back. What a disgusting statement.
The idea that the apartment complex had a duty to keep secret the footage it had on its security cameras is absolutely preposterous. After they file their demurrer, they should seek sanctions. That said, Momeni’s attorney has some chutzpah suggesting the family shouldn’t have brought a wrongful death suit. Murder is the most wrongful of wrongful deaths. The ultimate tort.
Each member of that family is going to be on the hook for huge amounts given the law on aiding & abetting and conspiracy. And with the potential for criminal prosecution for these acts, if they are smart and represented by competent counsel, which so far has not been the case, they will respond to every discovery request with “I decline to answer on Fifth Amendment grounds.” But that can, and will, be used against them in the civil case. Also, not my area, but I don’t believe a judgment on these claims can be discharged in bankruptcy, so they will be hounded by the lawyers for their victim’s family for decades. If a family member comes and tells you he/she just committed a horrendous crime and needs your help, the response needs to be “I love you, but no.”
Momeni’s lawyer:“Aren’t they rich enough? Wow, they sure do like the limelight,” Zangeneh said. He should work in the new administration, we need more luminaries in charge.It is not a question of money,it is a question of making people take responsibilities for their acts, in this case hiding the truth and trying to get rid of the car which was evidence at the time. And for “like the limelight” comment: your client’s sister sure did like the limelight herself, with the fashion and style involved,I felt like I was watching a show combining Jersey shore,the Kardashians, the Secret lives of Mormon’s Wives shot in the studio down in Mar a Lago with Jerry S.
Just when you thought the Kardashians of S.F. crime were finally out of the news, here they are back again.
“Aren’t they rich enough? Wow, they sure do like the limelight,” says the flashy Miami attorney that represented another murderer (Dan Markel murdered by Sigfredo Garcia). Jerk.