The sister of a millionaire tech consultant on trial for killing Cash App founder Bob Lee has found herself in the middle of the courtroom drama.
Khazar Elyassnia, 38, had allegedly been partying and sleeping with Lee when her brother, 40-year-old Nima Momeni, stabbed Lee to death on April 4, 2023, according to the San Francisco Standard.
A bloody Lee was found begging for help at 2:30 a.m., about a half hour after he was spotted leaving Elyassnia’s home alongside Momeni.
Prosecutors allege Momeni planned the attack after a fight with his sister.
He then allegedly grabbed a knife from Elyassnia’s condo, drove Lee to a secluded area, stabbed him three times and fled.
“Stabbed through his heart and left to die,” assistant district attorney Omid Talai said. “Our victim was stabbed repeatedly, once in his chest, once in his hip and literally one puncturing his heart.”
However, Momeni’s lawyers claim their client killed Lee in self-defence, alleging the tech exec, who was chief product officer of cryptocurrency platform MobileCoin when he died, was high on drugs and tried to slash Momeni following a days-long bender.
Lee and Elyassnia were allegedly deep into the wealthy San Francisco party scene known as “The Lifestyle,” where guests went to do drugs and have casual sex, the Wall Street Journal previously reported.
The pair attended one of the parties the night of Lee’s murder, where Momeni believed his sister had been drugged and raped, prosecutors argued during their opening statements.
Momeni wanted to get revenge for his sister, prosecutors said, but text messages following the slaying showed Elyassnia called her brother “f—ing psychotic.”
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The siblings are reportedly close, with one friend telling Mission Local that Momeni would “do absolutely anything” for his sister “and she would do anything for him.”
The accused’s lawyers also tried to have Lee’s ex-wife Krista barred from the courtroom after she referred to Elyassnia as “the whore of high tower,” a reference to the woman’s residence in a luxury highrise.
Elyassnia has been married to Dr. Dino Elyassnia, a plastic surgeon, since 2013.
He has been with his wife in court throughout Momeni’s trial proceedings, the Standard reported, but Khazar’s connection to Lee has led many to question the couple’s marriage.
One person told the publication he matched with the surgeon’s wife on a dating app in 2019 and went home with her.
Elyassnia previously denied being sexually assaulted by anyone at the party — and told her brother afterward that nothing disturbing happened, according to court documents.
Lee was found with both ketamine and cocaine in his system at the time of his death.
Momeni has pleaded not guilty to murder.
“Nima had to stand his ground against someone who had barely slept in a 90-hour span and was utilizing cocaine the whole time,” attorney Saam Zangeneh claimed in court, according to the Standard.
“People on these long-term cocaine benders, they’re paranoid, aggressive, and violent.”