Cash App founder Bob Lee’s accused killer appeared in court on Wednesday for the scheduling of a preliminary hearing to decide whether the case will go to trial.
Prosecutors released nine new surveillance images they say show suspected killer Nima Momeni, 38, and Lee together shortly before the tech titan was stabbed to death in San Francisco last month.
One of the images obtained by NBC Bay Area shows Lee, 42, at 12:39am in the lobby of the Millennium Tower, where Momeni’s 37-year-old sister Khazar Elyassnia, lives. Lee and Elyassnia had reportedly been partying together the night of his murder.
A second image shows Lee and Momemi inside an elevator in the building about an hour and a half later, and a third depicts the pair exiting the elevator in the tower’s garage and walking to a white BMW convertible.
Lee and Momeni are then seen getting into the car in a fourth surveillance image.
In the next surveillance image released by prosecutors, Lee appears alone walking up main street, near where police say the murder happened.
The final image shows Lee near a vehicle he had reportedly tried to flag down before he collapsed.
New surveillance images show the pair together before the tech titan was stabbed to death. One image shows Lee and Momemi inside an elevator in the Millennium Tower building
One of the images shows Lee, 42, at 12:39am in the lobby of the Millennium Tower, where Momeni’s 37-year-old sister Khazar Elyassnia, lives. Lee and Elyassnia had reportedly been partying together the night of his murder.
The pair are seen exiting the building and approaching a white BMW convertible
Lee and Momeni are then seen getting into the car in a fourth surveillance image
Security video obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com previously showed a bloodied and dazed Lee staggering along Main Street and stumbling towards an apartment before falling backwards as he tried to hit the electronic intercom.
During Wednesday’s court appearance, Momemi disagreed with his own attorney Paula Canny about the date for his preliminary hearing, with the suspect wanting the earliest possible date, as reported by NBC Bay Area journalist Sergio Quintana.
Prosecutors are expected to release new details of their investigation during the preliminary hearing, set for May 30, when a judge will decide if there is enough evidence for the murder case to go to trial.
Momemi’s lawyer revealed in court last week that he is not a U.S. citizen and was at risk of being deported back to Iran.
Lee’s stabbing death on April 4 was originally thought to have been the result of random violence in the crime-ridden city of San Francisco.
But as a web of connections between Lee, Momemi, and his sister and alleged attendance at underground sex and drug parties, other theories of the crime have emerged.
In the next surveillance image released by prosecutors, Lee appears alone walking up main street, near where police say the murder happened
Accused killer Nima Momeni appeared in court on Wednesday for the scheduling of a preliminary hearing
New images released by prosecutors show Cash App founder Bob Lee with Momeni on the night the tech mogul was fatally stabbed
Lee and Momeni’s sister Khazar Elyassnia had reportedly been partying together the night of his murder. She is pictured with her husband Dr Dino Elyassnia
Prosecutors believe Momeni stabbed Lee in the heart after vowing to ‘come down hard on him’ over his relationship with his married sister, with whom the Cash App founder exchanged intimate text messages.
Hours before his murder, Momeni had allegedly grilled Lee about his relationship with Elyassnia, who is married to prominent local plastic surgeon Dr Dino Elyassnia.
According to prosecutors, he demanded to know whether she’d been ‘doing drugs’ or anything ‘inappropriate’ while spending time with Lee.
According to a witness, Lee told Momeni that nothing inappropriate had happened.
Authorities say Momeni and Lee met up again later that night at Elyassnia’s luxury apartment in Millennium Tower.
Nima Momeni (left) vowed to ‘came down way hard’ on Lee hours before the stabbing. Prosecutors say it was a planned attack in which he used a kitchen knife to stab Lee in the heart
Lee was seen on surveillance footage near the apartment building clutching his wound
The glamorous sister of Lee’s accused killer, who allegedly attended drug-fueled sex parties with him, is seen arriving to court to support her brother for his arraignment
Momeni then allegedly took Lee to a shady downtown street, where he stabbed him three times including once in the heart, prosecutors say. Momemi then allegedly left Lee to bleed out in the middle of the street.
An unnamed witness who said he’d been friends with Lee for ten years told police he believed Lee and Elyassnia were having an intimate relationship and that her marriage might have been in ‘jeopardy.’
In a text message to Lee earlier in the day, she gushed: ‘Just wanted to make sure your doing OK because I know Nima came wayyy down hard on you and thank you for being such a classy man handling it with class.
‘Love you Selfish pr***s.’
Elyassnia has refused to co-operate with investigators, according to San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.
In a court filing last week, Momeni’s defense attorney Paula Canny said the narrative created by law enforcement against her client was built on faulty foundations and does not prove he killed Lee in the early hours.
According to the San Francisco Standard, Canny argues police spent eight days after the killing creating a compilation video made up of fuzzy surveillance footage.
She said the case relies too heavily on this footage and that it is too blurry to ID either Momeni or Lee.
Momeni and Elyassnia moved to the US from Iran as children.
He was known for being more recluse, whereas she married a plastic surgeon and was a glamorous party girl in San Francisco’s so-called ‘The Lifestyle.’
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