Khazar Momeni defends her brother on the stand

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Khazar Momeni, the sister of Bob Lee's accused killer, testified about flirtatious text messages exchanged with the tech mogul in the days leading up to Lee's violent death.

Tuesday marked Khazar's third day of testifying on the stand. Prosecutors and defense attorneys have thrown hundreds of questions at her. Khazar answered each one without implicating anything negative about her brother, Nima Momeni.

Lee was fatally stabbed on April 4, 2023 by Nima Momeni, according to his own defense attorneys. Lee left behind a blood trail on Main Street while he desperately searched for help and bled to death. A knife was found near the crime scene with Nima Momeni's DNA on the handle.

Khazar told the jury that she was "shocked" when police officers arrested her brother on suspicion of first-degree murder. Defense attorney Saam Zangeneh said Nima Momeni stabbed Lee in self-defense.

Zangeneh cross-examined Khazar for hours on Tuesday. He focused on text and WhatsApp messages exchanged between Lee and Khazar on April 1 and April 3 when they partied around San Francisco and hung out together.

On the morning of April 1, Lee and Khazar had been up all night and using party drugs, including cocaine and whippets. Around 7 a.m., he invited Khazar to go with him to an after-party at Twitter's San Francisco headquarters. Khazar said she declined and went to a different party with her female friend who was visiting from Miami. After Lee arrived at Twitter, he continued pressing Khazar to join him at Twitter.

Zangeneh showed the jury Lee's message to Khazar in which he wrote, "You should cum, bring your gf."

The defense attorney asked Khazar, "How does he spell come?" Khazar answered, "C-u-m. He was being inappropriate."

Khazar, who is married to a wealthy plastic surgeon, and Lee, a divorced father of two, reportedly had a casual dating relationship. Khazar called Lee "babe" in some flirty messages, and wrote "love you," in others.

The jury saw a message from Lee when he asked Khazar for a sexual favor in exchange for a tank of nitrous whippets.

As the creator of Cash App, Lee was popular and respected in the Bay Area tech industry. He was a kind, happy, and easy-going person, according to previous trial testimony from Lee's close friend, Bo Mohazzabi. Surveillance videos captured Lee smiling while he went to The Battery social club with Mohazzabi on April 3, 2023, the night before he was slain. 

In an effort to show the jury a different side to Lee's personality, Zangeneh displayed a WhatsApp message in the courtroom. "Get your ass in my Uber," Lee wrote to Khazar on April 3, 2023. 

The message was sent while Lee and Mohazzabi were leaving the apartment of Lee's alleged drug dealer, Jeremy Boivin.

Khazar testified that Mohazzabi was inhaling whippets, staring at her, and making her very uncomfortable in Boivin's apartment. She told Boivin to make Lee and Mohazzabi leave. Mohazzabi had romantically attempted to pursue Khazar in the past, but she had always refused, she testified.

When Lee got into an Uber to leave the alleged drug dealer's apartment, he wrote to Khazar, "Get your ass in my Uber. Or never speak to me again," according to a WhatsApp message shown to the jury Tuesday.

The defense attorney emphasized that Lee was demanding that Khazar leave with him, but it wasn't because he concerned for Khazar's safety, the defense attorney said.

"He wasn't worried about you being alone with Jeremy, was he? He doesn't send you a message saying, don't be alone with this Jeremy guy. Jeremy is no good,"  Zangeneh said. "Correct," Khazar answered. Khazar had just met Boivin for the first time because Lee introduced Boivin as his friend, according to testimony.

After Lee left, Khazar testified that Boivin gave her and her female friend three shots of a "date rape drug," GHB, until the women lost consciousness on Boivin's bed.

Khazar testified that she was sexually assaulted by the drug dealer and woke up face-down on his bed wearing only a bikini.

"He had touched you during your inebriated state. You were in no condition to give consent?" Zangeneh asked. Khazar answered, "Correct. I couldn't move a finger." Khazar said she woke up hysterical, crying, and wanted to leave. 

After calling her family for help, Nima Momeni picked up Khazar to drive her home, while her husband retrieved Khazar's Mercedes. Surveillance videos show Khazar looking distraught, disheveled, and barely able to stand as she leaves Boivin’s apartment and is picked up by her brother.

Once Khazar made it back to her luxury condominium at Millennium Tower, she threw her arms around her husband and held him with relief, according to videos show in court Tuesday.

Khazar's testimony about Lee's behavior and the WhatsApp messages contradicted Bo Mohazzabi's statements on the stand. Mohazzabi worked in the tech industry and performed as a DJ at nightclubs.

Mohazzabi testified last week that he overheard Nima Momeni call Lee around 9 p.m. on April 3, 2023. The brother was angry, interrogated Lee, and demanded to know what happened to his sister in Boivin’s apartment, the DJ said. Mohazzabi was with Lee until the tech mogul went to Khazar's apartment around midnight.

According to prosecutors, Nima Momeni was an overprotective big brother who was enraged about what happened to his sister. Prosecutors said Nima Momeni stabbed his unarmed victim three times in the chest and left him to die in the street at 2:30 a.m. on April 4, 2023. San Francisco Police Department officers found Lee unconscious and bleeding heavily on Main Street.

Defense attorneys assert that Lee pulled out the knife and attacked first. Nima Momeni fought back in self-defense, Zangeneh said.

Khazar testified that she and her husband are paying for the trial's defense team of five attorneys. During direct examination on Monday, prosecutors highlighted contradictions between what she said on the stand with private text messages she wrote around the time of the homicide.

Khazar has struggled to explain why she still receives drugs from Boivin, as recently as two months ago, even after she was sexually assaulted. She testified that Boivin has repeatedly sexually assaulted her in his apartment, including once when the police were called.