Nima Momeni, the man convicted last December of fatally stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee, has filed a $17 million lawsuit against several media organizations — including The San Francisco Standard — alleging defamation and civil rights violations related to coverage of his case.
In a complaint filed Monday in San Francisco Superior Court, Momeni is listed as representing himself from the San Francisco County jail where he is being held. The lawsuit names as defendants The Standard, Los Angeles Times Communications LLC, NYP Holdings Inc. (publisher of the New York Post), and photojournalist Paul Kuroda, along with up to 100 unnamed individuals.
Kuroda has worked extensively for several of the state’s top publications. He was twice a Pulitzer Prize finalist and won the NPPA/University of Missouri National Photographer of the Year award in 1990.
Reached for comment, Kuroda expressed surprise to learn of the lawsuit. “Nothing like this has ever happened to me before,” he told The Standard.
Momeni alleges defamation, breach of contract, professional negligence, civil rights violations, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, fraud, and invasion of privacy. He is seeking $17 million in compensatory and punitive damages. Momeni did not respond to a request for comment via the Sheriff’s Department.
Momeni was convicted of second-degree murder in December 2024 for the April 2023 stabbing death of Lee, a prominent tech executive. A jury acquitted Momeni of first-degree murder but found him guilty of the lesser charge after deliberations that began in early December 2024. He faces 16 years to life in prison. A hearing on Momeni’s sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 12.
Prosecutors argued that Momeni intended to kill Lee following an argument about Momeni’s sister and her drug use. Momeni maintained throughout the trial that he had acted in self-defense after Lee attacked him with a knife.
The case drew national attention and became entangled in debates about crime in San Francisco. District Attorney Brooke Jenkins pushed back on critics, including Elon Musk, who characterized the homicide as evidence of lawlessness in the city. Law enforcement officials had said early in the investigation that they believed the stabbing was not a random crime.
Momeni fired the attorneys who represented him at trial and retained new counsel in June. His new lawyers, Daniel Shriro and Boris Bindman, have expressed concerns about the fairness of the trial proceedings.
The Lee family has filed a civil lawsuit against the Momeni family, claiming emotional damages from the trial.
The complaint filed Monday does not specify which articles or photographs are at issue in Momeni’s claims against the media defendants.
Representatives for The Los Angeles Times, News Corp., and the New York Post did not respond to requests for comment.