The promised civil lawsuit arrived late last week from the brother, ex-wife, and children of late tech entrepreneur Bob Lee, and it accuses the family of Nima Momeni of helping him to cover up his crime.
We mentioned Tuesday that the civil lawsuit from the Lee family had been filed in San Francisco Superior Court, much as Lee's ex-wife Krista Lee had said following the conclusion of Nima Momeni's trial last fall.
"The blood is on their hands," Krista Lee told reporters outside the courtroom. "Our fight is not over. If it wasn't for Khazar Momeni's irresponsibility, dishonesty, drug abuse, and promiscuity, we would still have Bob alive."
Nima Momeni was convicted in mid-December of second-degree murder, with a deadly weapon enhancement, and he is set to be sentenced on May 16. Momeni, who turns 40 this year, faces a sentence of 15 years to life in prison, with the sentence contingent on several factors, including his level of remorse. Momeni has expressed little remorse about the April 2023 stabbing, claiming throughout the trial that it was Lee who was the aggressor, and that he had turned the knife back on him — three times, including once to the heart.
The jury also heard evidence that Momeni tossed the murder weapon over a fence before driving away, and never called police. And they were shown video of Momeni talking outside his lawyer's office days later, appearing to pantomime the stabbing while explaining it to his lawyer's investigator.
The civil lawsuit accuses Momeni of negligence and wrongful death, but it also names Momeni's sister, Khazar Momeni, who testified on his behalf at trial, as well as her husband Dino Elyassnia, and Momeni's mother, Mahnaz Tayarani Babi. The family members are accused of conspiring to cover up the murder and helping Momeni to "hide and/or destroy evidence."
At trial we learned that Elyassnia had Googled "how to erase an iPhone" shortly after the crime occurred, and the suit alleges that the family members all purchased new phones and attempted, sometimes successfully, to erase information from their phones. (At trial, there was little evidence of conversations between Khazar and Nima Momeni after the stabbing, possibly because her phone was destroyed or inaccessible to police.)
While it's not clear that Momeni's Miami-based criminal defense attorney Saam Zangeneh will continue to represent the family in the civil suit, Mission Local still got a comment out of him this week.
Regarding the suit, which is seeking damages equivalent to Lee's lifetime earning potential as well as wrongful death compensation, Zangeneh said of the Lees, "Aren’t they rich enough? Wow, they sure do like the limelight."
Krista Lee spoke to the Chronicle, saying, "This lawsuit is not about money. It is about holding these people accountable for their despicable behavior."
The suit also names the property management companies and a security firm associated with the Portside II condominium building at 403 Main Street of releasing surveillance footage to the media of a bloodied Lee in his last conscious moments, as he sought help after the stabbing. Lee was seen on video stumbling up the street from the crime scene to the building, and trying to dial the front door callbox for help.
The British tabloid The Daily Mail was the first to release the footage, just two days after Lee's death, and while there was still a public outcry — bolstered by Elon Musk — about this being a random stabbing by a homeless person or drug addict, feeding into the narrative of San Francisco's decline.
The suit contends that Lee's children were subsequently forced to see this tragic scene on news broadcasts following their father's death, forever traumatizing and scarring them.
"Bob’s two children, who were both minors at the time of his death, saw the footage on news reports, and they were horrified at what they saw in the video," the suit says.
The management companies have not given any comment on the case.
Previously: Jeremy Boivin, Who Figured In Bob Lee Murder Trial, Says Momeni's Sister Apologized for Assault Accusation
