Stab wounds to heart and lung killed 'brilliant' app founder

Cash App founder Bob Lee died during surgery for stab wounds that pierced his heart and a lung.

Doctors at San Francisco General Hospital tried for hours to close the wounds in Mr Lee’s heart and save his life, according to an 18-page post-mortem report released on Tuesday.

But despite their efforts, the 43-year-old Cash App founder was pronounced dead at 6.49am on 4 April.

A toxicology test also found he had alcohol, cocaine, ketamine and allergy medication in his system.

But doctors concluded Mr Lee’s cause of death was due to multiple stab wounds, with the manner and method of death being a homicide by sharp injury.

Tech consultant Nima Momeni, 38, has been charged with his murder.

Mr Lee and Momeni knew each other and were apparently seen in a vehicle together shortly before the stabbing.

If Momeni is convicted, he could face 26 years in prison.

Momeni’s plea hearing has been delayed until 18 May after his defence lawyer asked for more time.

‘What happens when people take drugs’

Momeni has been accused by prosecutors of allegedly driving Mr Lee to a secluded spot in San Francisco and stabbing him over a dispute related to the suspect’s sister.

Dr Kendall Von Crowns, the chief medical examiner in Tarrant County, Texas, said the post-mortem showed the amount of alcohol in Mr Lee’s system was only equivalent to one beer.

The traces of ketamine could also be linked to anaesthetic in a hospital, Dr Von Crowns added.

But Momeni’s defence suggested the post-mortem’s findings were significant.

Outside the courtroom, Momeni’s lawyer Paula Canny said: “There’s a lot of drugs in Bob Lee’s system.

“What happens when people take drugs? Generally, they act like drug people, and what drug people act like is not themselves, not happy-go-lucky.”

“Just kind of illusory and make bad decisions and do bad things,” she added.

What happened and what do the court documents say?

In court documents, it was revealed that CCTV footage and testimony from Mr Lee’s friend – who was with him the afternoon and evening before he died – led investigators to Momeni.

The friend told police the two of them met with Momeni’s sister, Khazar Elyassnia, at an apartment where she was drinking with another unidentified man, according to the documents.

The friend said he and Mr Lee left the apartment and went to Mr Lee’s hotel room.

Prosecutors say he witnessed a conversation in which Momeni was questioning the victim over whether his younger sister “was doing drugs or anything inappropriate”.

After the friend and Mr Lee parted ways at around 12.30am, on CCTV footage the Cash App founder is seen entering the high-end Millennium Tower, where public records show Elyassnia and her husband, Dino Elyassnia, own a unit.

Mr Lee and Momeni then left the building shortly after 2am and drove away in the suspect’s vehicle.

Prosecutors allege Momeni drove to a dark and secluded spot, parked his car and after the two got out of the car, attacked Lee with a kitchen knife, stabbing him three times, including once in the heart.

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The death of Mr Lee shocked the tech industry, with friends and former colleagues mourning a man they described as brilliant, gregarious and a doting father to his two children.

Mr Lee was known for creating the widely used mobile payment service Cash App while working as chief technology officer of the payment company Square, now known as Block.

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