Controversial Pics of Suspect in Cash App Exec Murder Show Him Apparently Posing in Jail Cell, With Book on Napoleon

Lawyers for a man accused of fatally stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee in San Francisco want his trial moved after photos of him in jail were published by a local news site.

The defense team claims the photos of tech consultant Nima Momeni prejudiced public opinion and potential jurors, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The photos showed Momeni in his jail-issued orange jumpsuit. They also showed his cell and books on his desk, including a biography of Napoleon Bonaparte and a psychology book. 

The photos were published this week by the San Francisco Standard. They had been taken in August by a journalist who was at the jail doing an unrelated story on solitary confinement for the Los Angeles Times.

The journalist took photos of Momeni in his cell when he happened upon him.  They show Momeni is clearly aware of the photographer and appears to pose in some of the pictures.

But now the defense team claims Momeni didn’t give permission for the photos and it will give potential jurors the impression of him as a prisoner.

The Standard’s editor-in-chief, Julie Makinen released a statement saying: “We contacted Momeni’s legal team prior to publication, and they did not raise objections or concerns about the publication of the images,” Mission Local reported. “The Standard believes the images were entirely newsworthy.”

“In my 27 years (of practice) I have never seen a photographer go into jail and take pictures like this — it’s highly prejudicial, next-level stuff,” Momeni’s attorney Bradford Cohen told a judge Thursday.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Loretta Giorgi said she was concerned about the photos and asked the jail to investigate.

This is not the first complaint by the defense team. Momeni’s lawyers previously told the judge the knife allegedly used in the murder was not fingerprinted and investigators did not interview a potential witness.

Bob Lee, a technology executive who created Cash App and was currently chief product officer of MobileCoin, was fatally stabbed near the waterfront in downtown San Francisco in April.

Momeni had reportedly confronted Lee about his sister, Khazar Momeni's, drug usage and behavior, prosecutors said.