True Crime All The Time - Bob Lee

Episode Date: August 31, 2026

Bob Lee, the Cash App founder and prominent tech executive, was stabbed to death in San Francisco in April 2023. Investigators focused on Nima Momeni after surveillance showed Lee leaving his sister Khazar’s apartment with him before the two stopped near the Bay Bridge, where Lee was fatally stabbed. Prosecutors argued Momeni killed Lee over anger surrounding his sister’s alleged drugging and sexual assault, while Momeni claimed he acted in self-defense after Lee attacked him with a knife. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss the murder of Bob Lee. DNA evidence linked both men to the weapon, and Momeni was convicted of second-degree murder in December 2024. However, questions surrounding the confrontation, the competing accounts of what happened, and the circumstances that led to Lee’s death continue to fuel debate, leaving the full truth behind the killing a mystery.You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 528 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in True Crime, Mike Gibson. Give me, how are you? Hey, I'm doing good, man. How about you? I'm doing great. Yeah? My new 2K game came out this week.

I'm super excited. You know how it is. You like that basketball, man. I do. I love that basketball game. It's my favorite game. I wonder if they're going to make a WNBA. Because the women's basketball.

W-W. No, they, they, they, integrated it into this 2K. Oh, did they? Yeah, because they're pretty popular right now. They are. Yep, it's integrated into the 2K game. Oh, okay.

Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Carla Adams jump up to our highest level. What's going on, Carla? Chris Warner. Hey, Chris. Dirt eater. Like Joe Dirt. Kind of.

Yeah. Kim, Catherine Strickland. Hey, Kim. James Kelly. Well, thanks, Kelly. Ria Brown. Well, thanks, Brown. And last but not least, Gilla McGregor.

Gilla McGrega. It's actually one of your better voices right there. They're all good. Okay. And then if we go back into the vault, this week we selected Christy Russell. Hey, thanks, Christy. Yeah, we appreciate all the support. We have a new episode out right now on Unsolved where we're talking about Alfred Swinsko.

In April 2023, some remains were found in a farmer's field in England, DNA testing, identified that they belong to this local minor who had been missing for more than 50 years. It's kind of a fascinating case. I thought it was. We also dropped Saturday night a brand new Patreon episode. It's on Shantay Blankenship. She was 25 years old when she was murdered while taking her daily evening walk in her North Lake, Texas neighborhood. Shante's killer lived among the community for over a year before members of her church.

helped authorities find it. It was a fascinating episode. It really is. It's there's got some twists and turns to it. Um, so definitely check that out. If you're not a Patreon member, join now. Yeah, now's a great time to sign up. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I'm ready. We're talking about Bob Lee. Bob Lee, who founded Cash App was stabbed the death from the streets of San Francisco. In April 2003. Authorities soon discovered that he was involved in the world of drugs and exclusive parties. Bob Lee was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on December 20th, 1979. He grew up in the Midwest. Now, do you say Missouri or Missouri? Missouri. I do too, but a lot of people say Missouri.

Well, it's Missouri. Okay. I think people in Missouri might disagree with you. It's right there next to Illinois. Okay. We'll say that's true. According to the Washington Post, Bob earned the nickname Crazy Bob in high school because of his seemingly endless energy, which to me is kind of a strange nickname.

I heard of some people in my high school with that type of nickname, but it didn't have anything to do with the amount of energy they had. Had something to do with something else. Yeah. Yeah, they had some other stuff going on. After his death, Bob's friends told media outlets that he was generous and stayed humble despite his success.

In 2001, Bob figured out how to solve a computer virus called Code Red, which had consumed large parts of the internet that year. Do you ever get the Code Red? I don't remember that. I've always been pretty good about having computers. or virus software. What I will say is if you can develop something that can fix a problem like that, you can make a boatload of money.

Absolutely. Bob did an interview with the now defunct tech TV discussing how he solved the virus with a patch. And he gave away his patch for free to help as many people as possible. Wow, that is pretty cool. Well, it is. I just said you can make a bunch of money. but he didn't do it that way. He gave it away for free. But it also can get you on the radar for other things.

Well, yeah, I can give you some name recognition and help you further down the line. Bob attended Southeast Missouri State University, not far from where he grew up in St. Louis. He was a successful coder while studying at the university. He eventually moved to California to start his career in tech. because let's face it, right? Back then, if you were in tech, that's where you went. That's where you needed to go if you were going to make it. And to some degree still is. It's starting to change.

Some tech firms are moving to other places. But I think by and large, you know, California, Silicon Valley is still the tech capital, right? Bob started at Google. But he got his breakthrough by helping develop Google's Android system. Android. It's not a small thing. It is not. I mean, that is a very well-known system.

A lot of people use it on their phones, right? They're Android phones. After six years with Google, he went to work for Square based in San Francisco. He was at Square in its early stages and eventually became the chief technology officer. I used to have Square. Do you have Square back then? Is that the little thing you plug in your phone? that allows you to take credit cards?

Yeah, the little, like a little block that you plug in and you swipe. If you're a vendor, you can use it, or I'm sure you probably paid for something. Yeah. Through it. Yeah, we've actually done ads for Squarespace. I don't know about on this podcast, but on some podcasts we have. Yeah. I never had that, but I also never needed to take payments.

I almost shiver to ask you and think about what you might have taken payments for. Rex West had to take back. Well, that's what I was afraid of. Yeah. The square belonged to Rex West. At some point, the ones and five just weren't cutting it. So you had to kind of delve into the world of financial transactions. Or those occasional big tippers.

Yeah. I get you, man. You know, because I got tired of people saying, if I don't have, I don't have any cash on me. If I had, if you had a way to take a credit card, I'd tip you. and I'm like, problem solved. Let me introduce you to my square. While still at square, Bob was part of the team that built Cash App, a digital platform that allows users to send and receive payment.

You ever use Cash App? Yeah. Yeah, I've used it quite a bit. Bob soon became an investor in companies like SpaceX, Clubhouse, and other major companies. So, I mean, the one thing you'd have to say about this guy is he was very successful. Yeah. I mean, we're talking about some of the bigger companies here, right? SpaceX, Google. I mean, he knew where to invest. Yeah. I'm sure he made quite a bit of money. He was in,

you know, a very sought after profession. But when you invest in those types of companies, yeah, you are going to make some money. Bob was married to Crystal Lee for 10 years. They had two children who were teenagers at the time of Bob's death, they remained amicable co-parents after they divorced. Krista told Dayline that Bob had a work-hard, party-hard mentality. She said he did partake in parties and drugs, but he was never the kind of guy that would get out of control. Look, I know some guys that had that same philosophy.

If you're going to work hard, you play hard, you party hard. Hey, as long as you're careful about what you're doing, I mean, it's your life, right? Just got to make sure you're careful. Yeah, because it can get out of hand really quickly. Yeah. Right? People who think they've got it all together, they've got it rained in. And the next thing you know, they're kind of spiraling out of control.

Bob's friend Tommy Sowers told the Washington Post that he normally went to bed early, except when he was visiting Bob in San Francisco. He said, it'd be a Tuesday night. And he'd say, let's go out. Bob wasn't trying to get drunk or party hard. It was just that everywhere he went, he knew folks, and they were really happy to see him. I feel like this is like an old friend's episode or something when the guy that they can't wait to come into town, that they always have a good. It was like the life of the party type deal.

Yeah. Yeah, I got you. In 2021, Bob joined MobileCoin, a cryptocurrency. company, he started off as an early stage investor and advisor and eventually became chief product officer. CEO Josh Goldbarred told NBC Bay Area that Bob was made for the new world. 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 Mobile Coin, Bob surely had an impact that will last far beyond his short time on Earth. Sounds like he was a very smart guy.

Venture capitalist Wesley Chan befriended Bob at Google. He said about Bob. He was always humble. He'd say, oh, I don't know if it's going to work or not, but we'll try. And you know darn well Gibbs. He knew it was going to work. He'd find a way to make it work. Right. Chan also said that Bob was generous in coaching other engineers and tech entrepreneurs. Silicon Valley CEO Mark Hatch told to watch. Washington Post. He never bragged about his accomplishments. You had to drag it out of him or his friends, basically. And I like this type of people. To be honest with you, I don't really want to sit around and listen to people brag about what they've done or what they've bought or what they have. Just be a normal person. And if you're really that good, other people will do the bragging for you. Exactly. They will because there's a lot to brag about.

You really don't even need to do it yourself. Shortly before his death, Bob moved to Miami with his font. According to people, Bob was reportedly a multi-millionaire at the time of his death. He was rich, single, and enjoyed attending parties around the world. It doesn't surprise me that he was a multi-millionaire. No, not at all. And if he's single and wealthy, why wouldn't he? party around the world if you wanted to.

Well, I will say Miami is probably not a bad place if you're into attending parties. Yeah, I think you can have some fun there. They have quite a few of them, from what I understand. Bob's friends told the Wall Street Journal that Bob used drugs like cocaine, ecstasy, and ketamine recreationally. K, wow. Okay. Yeah.

You know, special K, I've heard that one called. I don't know exactly what that one does to you, but, But I hear it can be pretty potent. You're going to feel pretty darn good on it. Okay. That sounded like it came from experience, but I won't ask you how you know. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Bob had had multiple girlfriends and casual sex partners around the time of his death. Again, he is single.

He is single and, yeah. And he's wealthy, which doesn't hurt, right, when you're trying to get dates or girlfriends or. In the early morning hours of April 4th, 2023, an unidentified man called 911 from San Francisco's Rencon Hill neighborhood. His voice was faint, and he said, help, help me please. The San Francisco police arrived at 2.35 a.m. and found a man bleeding uncontrollably from chest wounds. He was identified as 43-year-old Bob Lee.

Bob died at the hospital. he had been stabbed twice in the chest and once in the hip. And one of the chest wounds punctured his heart. Sounds like a very brutal way to go. It does. According to Bob's toxicology screen, he had alcohol, cocaine, and ketamine in his system at the time of his death. But these drugs were not listed as a factor in his death. Oh, that's amazing.

I mean, none of these drugs. And, I mean, ketamine is pretty powerful. Is that the one that was like a horse tranquilizer or is a horse tranquilizer? Yeah. Sometimes in ERs, they give you ketamine right before they, if you have a dislocated shoulder, they're giving you the ketamine and then pull your shoulder out and put it back in place. So you don't feel the pain. That's how strong it is. Because I know you have a bad shoulder.

I do. So I think you probably could relate to someone pulling on that shoulder trying to pop it back in. would be excruciating, but on ketamine, you're like, no big deal. But I think the big thing is, right, none of these drugs caused his death. His death was caused by being stabbed. Sure, yeah. Detectives followed a trail of blood down the street to a parking lot fence and discovered a pairing knife.

Security cameras in the area captured Bob, stumbling towards a luxury apartment building. He grabbed onto the call box and fell to the ground. Footage from nearby businesses also captured a white BMW driving through the area at the time of the stabbing. The car was registered to a man named Nima Momini. Nima was a tech consultant from Iran who moved to the U.S. at age 14 with his mother and sister, Khazar Momini. On his LinkedIn profile, Nima described himself as an IT consultant slash entrepreneur and the owner of a company called Expand IT. Business filings listed him as the CEO, secretary, and CFO of Expand IT, Inc.

You know, not that strange, right? I mean, I am the CEO, secretary, CFO, and president of Rex West Incorporated. You're also the janitor and the night watchman. And you wear a lot of hats. I do. In that organization. But we have an interesting scenario developing, right? Bob is killed.

They have surveillance footage. And it shows this white BMW. And I think pretty quickly they figure out who the car is registered to. And it happens to be another person kind of in that world, right? The tech world. Nima's LinkedIn profile noted that he is. been a dedicated technology partner since 2005 and that he started expand in 2010. Mo Mini was charged with carrying a switchblade in 2011, a misdemeanor in California.

The case was dismissed the following year after he took a plea. But I do want to go back for a minute, right? I said they found this pairing knife. A pairing knife seems to me just to kind of be a strange weapon. Like if you set out to stab somebody, that's not really the type of weapon most people would choose or think about. It's kind of like maybe you had a pairing knife in your lunchbox, you know, to carve up an apple or something. Or it's the first thing you grabbed or the first thing you saw. It's certainly, if you were going out hunting, that's not what you would take.

No, it's not going to be your knife of choice. No, it wouldn't be part of your kill kit, right? if you were that type of killer, PR specialist Sam Singer had an office space next door to Mo Minis unit. He told NBC Bay Area, it was shocking to us because he was a very nice neighbor, very welcoming, very kind, very professional gentlemen.

Nima gave him a tour of his office. When Singer moved into the building, he said he led us into his unit. He showed us around. There was a pool table. There was big, fancy, stereo speakers, gourmet food, was very welcoming. We invited him into our new space, and he was very complimentary about the remodel we had done. Akash Sani worked with Momeni a few years prior when the

startup company he worked for hired Nima to set up their network. He said, every interaction that I had with them, it was always very cordial, very accommodating, very much with a smile on his face, never any signs of any anger or anything of that nature. So, I mean, at this point, it sounds like he was a pretty decent guy. Well, I think, you know, you have a couple of people who interacted with him. And I think it's safe to say they were both shocked, right? When this kind of broke that he could possibly be involved in it, there also seemed to be no connection between Bob Lee and Nima Mo Meni. authorities soon learned that there was a link and that link turned out to be nema's sister

kazar although kazar was married she was known as a party girl who moved in elite circles she and bob met at an exclusive club and how often do we talk about it right are there stranger murders yeah absolutely there are more often than not there is a link now the person may not be known directly. In this case, it might have been indirectly. Yeah. But there's a reason why someone is targeted very often. Eventually, if you look long enough, you'll find it. Yeah, you just got to find that motive, right? There are essentially stranger crimes, and those are harder to solve because there's very little motive other than the fact that somebody wanted to kill somebody. But it wasn't really that particular person, let's say.

So now we know Bob met, his sister at this, sounds like a pretty high-end club. Kazar and her husband lived in the Millennium Tower Apartments, a luxury high rise on Mission Street. She and her husband lived in separate units on different floors. Well, that's a weird way to be married. I mean, it's kind of a strange setup, right? Yeah. I guess if you didn't like your spouse a lot, maybe you go ahead and get your own unit.

Yeah, maybe. Now, I understand some people might have separate bedroom. Sure. They're snoring. There's, you know, different bedtime. There's all kinds of issues why, you know, couples at some point in their marriage might want to sleep in separate rooms. But in separate apartments in the same apartment complex, That seems a little strange to me. It really does. After Bob was killed, his ex-wife, Krista, received an anonymous text that said, I heard that you were talking to the police. Please tell them to check the footage of the Millennium Tower.

I'd like to remain anonymous. I fear that I will be stabbed too. Okay. I mean, I think if you're Krista, right, you're grieving in some way for the loss of Bob. Yeah, he's an ex-huburn. husband. But at one point, you guys were in love. I'm sure there's a, there's a lot of grief there. To me, this is a little scary, right? You get this anonymous text. It's very clandestine. Yeah. Investigators learned that on April 3rd, 2003, Bob Kazar Momeni and tech entrepreneur

Bo Mohazavi attended a party at the home of Bob's friend. Jeremy Boyven. Bo and Bob left the party and went to a hotel bar, but Kazar stayed behind. Bob eventually went to Millennium Tower to visit Kazar. Surveillance video captured Bob arriving shortly after midnight and leaving around 2 a.m. with Nima Momini.

They got into Nima's BMW and drove off together. Other cameras tracked the BMW to Main Street. the car parked in a dark and secluded area under Bay Bridge. It stopped just out of frame, but the camera captured the glow of the taillight. Two subjects entered the frame. After standing on the sidewalk for five minutes, Nima appeared to suddenly move towards Bob. They separated, and an injured Bob walked north on the sidewalk.

While Nima went south, Nima stopped along a fence line, where the knife was found, his BMW was then captured taking off at a high rate of speed. Wow. So that's sudden move towards Bob must have been the three quick jabs. I think, yeah, that's what police were probably thinking. And, you know, him walking along that fence line was probably him dropping the night.

Yeah. And getting rid of it before getting in his BMW and taking off. Either way, you know, he was now. the main person of interest, right? Nima. On April 11th, officers were able to unlock both of Bob's phones with help from his family. His call log showed a FaceTime call with Nima via Kazar. His phone also showed a text from Kazar that said,

just wanted to make sure you're doing okay. Because I know Nima came way down hard on you. Thank you for being such a classy man. handling it with class, Love you selfish pricks. Okay, that last part's a little strange. I don't really, I don't really understand that,

but what I'm taking away from it is that in the text, Kazar's a little concern for Bob because Nima must have got upset. Yeah, must have went off on Bob. Maybe Nima was just being a overprotective brother. Or wasn't happy that his, sister was possibly carrying on with Bob when she's married to this other guy. Nima Momeni was arrested in charge with murder on April 13th,

2003. During a search of the siblings' homes, investigators found a knife in Khazar's kitchen that was the same brand as the one used in the murder. Police wondered if Nima took the weapon from his sister's kitchen. And I think that's probably a pretty good assumption. I think so too. And it goes back to me kind of talking about the pairing knife, right? Paring knife not really being the ideal choice of weapon for murder, you wouldn't think.

Not that it's not capable of killing somebody. It obviously is. Yeah, but it's something, you know, you can grab quickly as you're headed out the door. And you also can kind of conceal it. Yeah, they're usually a lot shorter. Yeah. Right. than other types of knives. On August 1st, 2003, Nima was ordered to stand trial.

During the two-day preliminary hearing, his defense unsuccessfully argued that there might be enough evidence for manslaughter, but not murder. Nima had no reason to kill Bob, and the two men were cordial. Nima was angry with another person, not Bob. Prosecutors, though, said Nima drove Bob to a secluded area, stabbed him three times with a knife, and then drove off in a hurry after a dispute over Nima's sister. And, you know, if you're looking at the two sides

and comparing it to the surveillance evidence, it kind of does favor the prosecution, right, in their version of events. The prosecution also presented video and forensic evidence, showing that Bob was last seen getting into a car driven by NEMA and a bloody knife was found near the spot where the two men got out of the car. I mean, I think if you're a juror based on some of this evidence, you would have to be thinking, well, this doesn't look good for Nima at all.

Yeah, it's kind of hard to defend. A criminalist with the San Francisco police testified that Bob's DNA was found on the blade of the knife, but not the handle. And Nima's DNA was found on the handle. Okay. Now it's looking even worse. It is. Nima went to trial on October 14th, 2024.

Prosecutors argued revenge was the motive. Nema was extremely close with his sister and he was an overprotective brother. He believed that Jeremy Boyvin assaulted his sister and that Bob had an inappropriate relationship with her. Bob spent his final three nights partying with friends around San Francisco, including

Kazar, Jeremy Boyvin, and nightclub DJ Bo Mojah Zabi. During the trial, Jeremy Boivin was most frequently referred to as the drug dealer by witnesses and attorneys. Not what a lot of people would like to be known as. No.

Try to avoid that if you can. But if that is your main occupation, that's probably what they're going to call you. probably in the circle he was involved in probably paid him very well well well if you think about yeah the circle being these high end exclusive parties is there going to be there someone supplying drugs is it just one person if so that person's probably going to make a boatload of money yeah because let's face it these people attending have a boatload of money they're okay spending it and if that's what they want to do they're willing to

spend the afternoon before he was killed. Bob and Khazar were doing drugs and drinking at Jeremy Boyvin's apartment. Bob left and Nima later went to pick up Khazar who said she had been assaulted. Nima was enraged because Bob had introduced Khazar to Boivin and he also left her alone with him. Which I get, right, you know, you found out that your sister was assaulted. there's going to be some rage there. Oh, yeah, you're going to be upset. I could even understand why some of that would be directed at Bob, for the reasons I just mentioned.

But why would you kill Bob and not the person who was actually the one who assaulted your sister? Seems like he's picking the wrong person, though. I mean, look, yeah, can he be mad at Bob? Yeah. But why would you kill Bob? A friend of Bob's would testify that Nima questioned Bob over. the phone about what happened to Kazar. He sent text messages saying that the two men were creeps and sexual predators.

But then Nima later hung out with Bob at his sister's conduct until she kicked them out saying she needed to sleep. That's kind of strange, right? You guys are a bunch of creeps and sexual predators. Hey, by the way, we still doing that thing later tonight? Well, if your Nima, is it a way to get close to Bob because you want to do something to him. If you're Bob, maybe you don't want to hang out with Nima after getting these tags. I don't know. I would think he wouldn't want to. Now, maybe he did and he wanted to explain his side of it. Hey, I didn't do that.

And we mentioned it, right? Surveillance video showed the two men leaving Kazar's condo around 2 a.m. And getting into Nima's BMW, surveillance footage also captured them getting out of Nima's car near the Bay Bridge, where the stabbing occurred. where the stabbing occurred. 99% of DNA found on the knife handle belonged to Neiman. While Bob's DNA was found on the blade, Kazar was a key witness at trial. She testified that she had never met Jeremy Boyd. Until two days before the murder,

when Bob introduced her to him, she admitted to heavily using party drugs. On April 3rd, 2003, she was at Jeremy Boyvin's apartment with Bob and Bo. Mahazabi was doing drugs, staring at her and making her feel uncomfortable. He had pursued her in the past, but she always refused. She told Boyvin to make Bob and Mohazabi leave. When Bob got into an Uber to leave, he texted Kazar,

Get your ass in my Uber or never speak to me again. The defense emphasized that Bob, Bob wasn't worried for her safety about being alone with Boyvin. Kazar testified that after Bob left, Jeremy gave her and her female friends three shots of GHB, often referred to as the date rape drug. She lost consciousness. She was sexually assaulted and woke up face down on Boyvan's bed, wearing only a bikini. She cried and called her brother for help and asked him to drive her home to Millennium Tower.

Surveillance footage showed her looking distraught, disheveled, and barely able to stand as she left the apartment. She admitted that she invited Jeremy over to her apartment around the time Bob was stabbed the death because she wanted more drugs from him. And that's such a strange thing. It really is. I understand sometimes when people want drugs, they need drugs, their decision making might not be the best. To say you wanted the drugs and you were okay being around the guy that just sexually assaulted you earlier. Yeah. I mean, when most people hear something like that, they're like, why would you do that?

Yeah. But if you're in the throes of an addiction, which I don't know what her addiction level was or it just seems strange, I think, to most people. But I think you can also kind of see now maybe why Nima was. so upset. Yeah. Right. You as a brother get this call from your sister saying, hey, I've just been sexually assaulted. Come get me. I'm telling you what, man. You know, most guys who are protective of their sisters, that is not going to fly. Oh, no. But we still have this question, right? Why is Bob the target? Why does Bob become the target? Exactly. When it's very clear, that Jeremy was the one who committed this sexual offense.

So why stab Bob? Yeah. Cazar's testimony contradicted the early testimony of Bo Moazabi. Bo Hazabi testified that he overheard Nima call Bob around 9 p.m. On April 3rd, he was angry and demanded to know what happened to Cazar in Boyvan's apartment. Mo Hazabi was with Bob until. Bob went to Gazar's apartment around midnight. Nima then got on the stand and claimed he killed Bob in self-defense.

He testified that he and Bob were at Kazar's apartment. In the early morning hours of April 4th, she asked them to leave at 2 a.m. Because she was angry and wanted to sleep. As they left, they talked about things to do. However, all the bars in the area were past last call. Nima started driving. as he drove, Bob spilled his beer and asked Nima to pull over. As Nima pulled out a towel, Bob saw a nitrous whippet next to the towel and huffed it.

According to Nima, Khazar had left it in the car to go see her husband because he did not like drugs. Remember the whippets? I do remember whippets. It's not something I ever did, but I know a lot of people did back in the day. They really did, man. I don't know exactly what they were all made out of or where people obtained them. I thought some people did something with like those little canisters that you use for BB guns. But I could be wrong.

I don't really know how whippets were obtained. I think they got them from like those handheld, the fancy whipped cream things too. Like you make your own cream and you put in the canister and you use those charged things to squirt the whip cream out. Oh, you were a lot richer than I was growing up because I have never seen that before in my life. I didn't say I used them. I don't even have any idea what you're talking about. Fancy whipped cream that you make yourself and then you have your own container. Not like the ready whip that we just buy the ready whip and spray it directly into our mouths, you know.

So apparently, and again, this is all Nima's testimony, right? So keep that in mind. Bob get out of the car and Nima followed him out. Bob wanted to keep the party going by getting more cocaine from his hotel room, but Nima wanted to go home. Nima testified that he then made a bad joke. He said, I said if it was my last night in town, I'd go hang out with my family. Instead of fucking around in strip clubs, it set him off. He just blew up in front of me.

He went from zero to 100. He was very angry. Nima told Bob it was just a joke, but according to Nima, everything I said just made it worse. Yelling, cursing at me, circling around me, getting in my face. Nima continued in his testimony, I'm facing Bob. He's cussing at me. He's yelling at me talking about parenting. When Bob pulled out a knife from his jacket pocket, Nima said, I was afraid for my life.

I just wanted to control his hand. I grabbed his hands. I tried to control it. I was grabbing it and pushing him backwards. He took a swing. Neiman, his defense attorney, reenacted the altercation that took place on the street. The defense attorney pretended to hold a knife and swing it towards Nima. Nima grabbed his arm and redirected it to the attorney's chest.

Neema said that Bob just turned around and started walking away. He didn't know how badly. injured he was. He didn't want Bob to get the knife again. So when he saw it on the ground, he picked it up and threw it over a fence. All right. So we have to break down this story. And this happens in almost every trial when somebody is, you know, fighting for their life, their freedom, they're charged with murder or some other heinous crime. There's quite a bit of video evidence. There's also some pretty good DNA. Right. Right. Evidence. One person ends up dead and the murder weapon is this pairing knife. They believe it's Nima. He has to come up with a story, Gibbs, that to the best of his ability and maybe the ability of his defense team, right, fits within the evidence, but kind of shifts the blame or not kind of does shift the blame on two bomb. And this is his story. So what does the story?

So what does the story mean? It means that it wasn't Nima who took the pairing knife, right, from Cazar's apartment. It was Bob. Right. Bob's the one who pulled it on Nima. And in this action movie self-defense move, he turned it back on Bob and stabbed him with three times, apparently. Yeah. You know, so you got to keep that in mind.

also how are you getting past the DNA? Very difficult to do that. How is the handle 99% your DNA and not Bob's? If Bob's the one who had the knife to begin with, it should at least be a mixture, right? Exactly. And that's going to be a problem if you can't explain that. But he's got to come up with something.

Yeah. Or his defense team has to come up with something. he also you know tries to explain why the knife ends up where it does he said he was in shot when he learned bob was dead nema said i feel awful to his family to himself he didn't deserve it i don't think anyone deserved that the prosecution noted that nema never called police to report the attack and didn't even call police after he learned bob had died i mean if it was self-defense why would you call. I think that's a pretty big point that they would make, right? The prosecution. The defense also called on Oronzo Villegas, who testified that she reassured Nima, nothing happened. In Jeremy

Boivin's apartment, she told Nima that his sister was lying and under the influence of several drugs. In closing arguments, the prosecution played Bob's 911 call, which recorded his final words. Bob said, somebody stabbed me and repeatedly asked for help. According to KRON4, Prosecutor Dane Reinstet emphasized that Nima didn't tell anyone his version of what happened under the bridge until over a year later, after he had time to review all the evidence and craft a story. Sure. Now you've seen the videotape and you can walk it frame by frame on how

you want to tell your story now. And you know what evidence they have, right? And all that. So it kind of goes hand in hand, right? Why would you not call 911 if this truly was self-defense? Why would you not tell anyone for an entire year that this was self-defense? Right. I think if I was a juror and I heard all this, I got to be pretty dubious that that's

the way that this thing really went down. Yeah. The prosecution argued, Kazar was the true motive, not self-defense. Hours before Bob was killed, Nima learned his younger sister was given drugs and assaulted. He blamed both Bob and Jeremy. He made a flurry of phone calls on the night of April 3rd, trying to figure out what happened and who to hold accountable.

Nima blamed Bob because Bob was the catalyst who put these events, into motion. He introduced Kazar to Mr. Boyvan. He left her alone with Jeremy in his apartment. Bob was vouching for Jeremy. That led him to believe maybe Bob could have been involved himself. I get that, but I don't. I still don't understand why his anger was solely directed.

Maybe not solely, but that's who he acted on, Bob, rather than Jeremy. Yeah, I mean, I really feel like he needed to wait a little bit, get more information before deciding to take action. Seems like he was kind of a hothead there. Yeah. And it could have been, you know, he's upset. He's lashing out at the first person he can find. Defense attorney Sam Zangina argued prosecutors told a fragmented false story about Bob's death and that the motive was just not there. prosecutors swept certain evidence under the rug and never called important witnesses to the stand.

I think prosecutors called whoever they thought they needed to be on the stand. Well, and you could also make the argument that if you thought they were so important, why didn't you call them to the stand? Exactly. According to KRON4, Zanginna argued that Khazar's testimony was not credible. I think she has a serious substance abuse problem, and I don't think she's credible at all. She's not something you can hang your hat on. I'm not resting on a thing that girl said, not a thing. He emphasized that jurors should focus on Bob's toxicology report.

Bob went on a three-day cocaine bender around the city before he died. He said the evidence was that Lee had cocaine, ketamine, and alcohol in the system that affects pain receptors, affects perception. Prosecutors told you he uses drugs all. the time and they don't affect it. Is that the truth? Does that make sense? What? Does it matter? That's what I was wondering. I get it. You're trying to come up with something, but it seems disjointed from what we know happened. Yeah. He might have been on a three-day bender. He was probably full of cocaine, ketamine. We know what the toxicology report said.

Yeah. But what does that do with him being stabbed to death? And why does 99% of the DNA on the handle belong to your client? Yeah, I think that's a big hurdle that you have to overcome. If you want to believe any part of his story, I think you have to overcome this DNA evidence. And I don't know how you do, right? If Bob is the one who originally has the knife, I'm assuming he's carrying it by the handle, as most people would. You're not going to carry it by the blade, right? That would be dumb.

At the very least, you would expect there to be some mixture, some percentage of Bob's DNA, some percentage of Nema's DNA. But that's not what we see. Jurors took seven days to come to a verdict. But on December 17, 2024, Nima Momeni was found guilty of second degree murder. Seven days. That's a long time. It is a long time.

You and I have talked about a lot of deliberations that took 30 minutes, an hour, two hours, seven days. There were some convincing having to go on behind those doors, I'm thinking. Nima was also found guilty of the modifying charge of using a deadly weapon in the commission of the slang, which added weight at sentencing. He faced 16 years to life in prison. Nema's mother said after the verdict is quoted by NBC Bay Area. My son is not the person that they think. He's very kind. He's very loving and respectful and caring.

Good people can do bad things. Well, that's true. He might be the best son in the world. Yeah. It doesn't mean that he didn't kill Bob Lee. Prosecutor Omid Talak said outside court, I'll just say, I think the jury got it right. It was a tough case.

A lot of people contributed to this case, making me and Dane Rainsstet's job fairly easy. We're grateful. We're happy with the verdict. In March 2025, Bob Lee's family filed a lawsuit against Nima Momeni, alleging negligence and wrongful death. The lawsuit also accused Nima's mother, sister, and his sister's husband of aiding and abetting and of conspiracy.

The Lee sought punitive and financial damages. alleging that the family aided and abetted NEMA by allegedly trying to delete digital evidence, getting new phones, and hiding Nima's vehicle. They also claim that the entities associated with portside apartments where Bob collapsed from his wounds, released private information, and videos of Bob's death without their consent.

Well, that's going to frustrate anybody, right? Yeah, you're going to get really upset about something like that. NEMA also sued several media outlets for defamation, invasion of privacy, fraud, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, professional negligence, breach of contract, and civil rights violations. He's seeking $17 million in damages from publishers of the San Francisco Standard, L.A. Times, and New York Post. He's going after the big guys. Yeah, but is it going to be hard for him?

I mean, he was convicted of murder. Yeah. So how much defamation could have gone on once you're convicted of murder? I mean, they're telling what they learned from the trial. Jeremy Boyven never testified at trial and spoke out for the first time in early 2025 in an interview with Dateline. He said, bottom line is, I didn't do it. There was no sexual assault at any point. he did admit to slapping Khazar on the buttocks, but denied doing anything sexual against her will.

He admitted he had an intimate physical relationship with Khazar for many months after Bob's death and that Khazar called him to apologize for accusing him in front of jurors and reporters. He also said the allegations took a toll on his life and were outrageously not true, according to court documents. And, you know, I go back to that, that thing of, you know, she is calling him for more drugs. Right. After alleging that he sexually assaulted her. And her best friend came out and said she was not being truthful as well.

Yeah. So it really makes you wonder, right? You never want to say that someone's lying, right? When they make an accusation of sexual assault. Now, he's saying it in defending himself. He's saying, hey, it didn't happen. I didn't do this. And to that point, he's saying after the death of Bob, they got together for several months.

They had a relationship. And that would have been after the alleged sexual assault. Yeah. In January, 26, ABC 7 reported that NEMA had still not been formally sentenced. Bob's ex-wife, Krista Lee, told the outlet, it's a cruel waiting game, that's for sure. That little bit of peace would be very helpful in our healing process. Nima's attorney Daniel Shriver said,

he intended to make a motion for a new trial and was going through the trial transcripts, but he didn't have all of them. The attorney wrote, we can't go forward with the new trial motion until we have the chance to review all the transcripts. No sentencing can occur while the new trial motion is pending. He also noted that,

there were two court reporters during the trial. One produced a substantial amount of transcripts, but there was also a substantial amount that had not been produced. The other reporter had not produced any transcripts so far. Bob's daughter, Scout Lee, also told ABC 7, it just feels like we're not getting the justice that we need by continuously pushing the sentencing back. Scout recalled that she felt scrutinized by all the media coverage surrounding her father's murder in the trial.

She wished there had been an organization that could help her during this time. So she created the nonprofit called Beacons of Bereavement or Bob. Oh, awesome. The nonprofit funds therapy and mental health support for victims. And I don't see how that could ever be a bad thing. Right. as long as the nonprofits run the way it should be. Exactly.

People can get in trouble with nonprofits if they misuse them. We can. But it sounds like it could provide a lot of help. DA Brooke Jenkins told ABC 7, they're entitled to have finality in this case, or at least they should be. He's entitled to file a motion for a new trial or an appeal, but that in no way should in our system,

stall his ultimate sentencing. Nima's sentencing was further delayed this July, as his attorney argued, there was racial or ethnic bias at play in the trial. A judge agreed to an evidentiary hearing on the issue. And Neiman and his attorney were back in court in mid-August. So obviously very recently, the defense argued that stereotypes about Middle Eastern men

were invoked at trial and may have played a role. in the jury's decision. According to KRON4, it remains unclear what the next steps would be if the judge were to find compelling evidence of racial bias. Sounds like this one might be sitting around for a while. Yeah, well, it's certainly in limbo. He's been convicted, but he's not been sentenced. And obviously there is a chance he could get a new trial.

there's there's a motion up that's tough on on uh bob's family sure it is he'd been waiting quite a while now for him to be sentenced but no i i'm sure he has some money he's probably got good attorneys and they're dragging this thing out and trying to get him a new trial yeah that's what attorneys are for but as we wrap this one up gibbs there were a couple of things that stood out to me about this case number one you have a number of very wealthy influential people, right, involved in this thing. But you also have quite a bit of drugs. Yeah.

And allegations of sexual assault. I still go back to Nima being so upset about getting this call from his sister and her saying that Jeremy sexually assaulted her. but in his mind, Bob is the more evil of the two. Because Bob left her alone with him. And he also introduced her to Jeremy in the first place. Yeah. And that one's a little tough.

I mean, people introduce people to others all the time. How can they be held responsible for that, some weird thing or bad thing that that person might do later on? Exactly. And she was, you know, in that elite circle of meeting people all the time. Well, and they were all hanging out together. And I think that's part of what makes this story so strange. It's not like these people were strangers.

Yeah. They were, if not friends, they were definitely partying together, hanging out together. Then you have, you know, this allegation of a sexual assault that, some people are saying is a fabrication, it's not true. Yeah. But could be the catalyst for this entire murder. Could be. I mean, for me, it all comes down to the video and the DNA on the knife.

Yeah, and I think the DNA on the knife is probably the biggest. Yeah. Because even with the video, could some of what you see maybe fit his self-defense theory? maybe I doubt it the video probably pretty much discounts that but there's no doubt that the DNA discounts it but it's it's pretty much like I always think right you have to come up with something as a defendant to combat all this evidence that the prosecution has against you and sometimes even the best you can do just kind of seems wacky but what else is there you you put up no defense you got at least try something so at this point he's convicted and just

waiting to be sentenced yeah yeah and you know he has been waiting for a while now more more importantly bob's family's been waiting well yeah i think that is more important because you know he he was convicted at the end of 2004 yeah so pretty soon it'll be two years two full years without him being sentenced. Now, he's still incarcerated, right? So he's doing time. Yeah. But there's still not that finality for Bob's family.

But that's it for our episode on Bob Lee. We got a voicemail. You want to check that out? Let's hear it. Hey, it is Tyler from Abilene, Texas, the birthplace of Bernie Tita. I just wanted to call and let you all know that you all do a great job on this podcast,

and it is very enjoyable. It's gotten me through a lot of long nights at the convenience store. So I just want to thank y'all. I am currently, currently just finished the Mendez Brothers episodes. And I have listened to a lot of True Cotton podcast. I have listened to a lot. But nothing has made me as sick to my stomach as those two little bastards.

It made me so sick, I had to call my mom and tell her. I loved her. So thank you all for everything you do. Well, we appreciate the voicemail and the kind words very much. I will say, you know, the Menendez brothers are pretty polarizing. Yeah. You know, there's some people who hate them or some people who think they were justified. I mean, opinions on them really are kind of all over the play. Really are.

It's not like a Ted Bundy or a John Wayne Gacy or a Dom or you're not going to find many people who don't believe they did it or they did it for a reason that they're okay with. but you do find some of that with some people with the Menendez. You can see it online all the time. Yeah, absolutely. Where did he say? What was the birthplace? Oh, Bernie Tida. Remember Bernie?

He, uh, I love Bernie Tita. Well, he's a killer, but you know what I mean? He was the one that operated the funeral home. That's right. And, uh, befriended, uh, the older woman. Yeah. And, uh, Jack Black played him in the movie and that's where they did the funny different parts of Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I got a kick out of doing that episode. I really did. I remember. I don't remember every episode, but I definitely remember that one.

Yeah, fun with that. We did. All right, buddy, that is it for another episode of true crime all the time. So for Mike and Gibby, stay safe and keep your own time ticking.