Nima Momeni, the man who killed MobileCoin and Cash App founder Bob Lee three years ago, was sentenced this week to 16 years to life in prison.
His defense is reportedly preparing to appeal the sentence handed down by San Francisco Superior Court Judge Alexandra Gordon.
The San Francisco Standard reports that Nima Momeni sought a new trial through a motion claiming he had ineffective counsel, as well as prosecutorial and juror misconduct.
Gordon rejected the request, however, in a rebuttal that lasted an hour.
Bob Lee's firm was a likely contributor to FTX's insolvency
Bob Lee helped found Cash App in 2013 and launched MobileCoin in 2021. The token, sold through an initial coin offering, rose from under $2 in December 2020 to more than $71 in 2021, and is now worth roughly seven cents.
Protos previously reported that MobileCoin may have contributed to the insolvency of crypto exchange FTX long before the collapse of the Terra/Luna ecosystem in May 2022.
Momeni argued he acted in self-defense
On the night of the stabbing, Lee and Momeni's sister, Khazar Momeni, went to the home of drug dealer Jeremy Boivin.
Lee left Khazar there, and she says she then took the date rape drug GHB that Boivin offered her.
Khazar alleges that Boivin then sexually assaulted her twice before her brother arrived to pick her up.
Footage shows Lee visiting Khazar's home before he and Nima left the building at 2 a.m., at which point CCTV recorded Nima stabbing Lee with a kitchen knife.
MobileCoin founder Bob Lee’s murder was planned, prosecutors say
Nima argued that he stabbed Lee in self-defense after a bad joke “just set him off,” and claimed he deflected an attempt by Lee to stab him.
Evidence showed Lee was stabbed three times and that only Nima's DNA was found on the knife's handle.
The prosecution argued that the alleged sexual assault spurred Nima to stab Lee. It also claimed that texts between Nima and his sister contradicted the events captured on camera.
The jury rejected Nima's defense and convicted him in 2024.
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