More information on how Tyrese Haspil, the personal assistant of Fahim Saleh killed his boss to conceal a theft of $400,000 from his girlfriend has surfaced.
Saleh was a venture capitalist and the CEO of Nigeria-based motorbike startup Gokada.
Haspil reportedly confessed to the police that he killed his boss because he did not want his French girlfriend, Marine Chaveuz, to find out about the theft and leave him.
In his desperation to cover his crime, he decided to kill his employer.
According to Daily Mail, Tyrese Haspil was arraigned before the Manhattan Supreme Court on murder charges for the July 13, 2020 killing of Fahim Saleh.
It was stated the suspect stole the money years before he killed Saleh by beheading him.
Saleh’s limbless body was found in his luxury $2.4 million apartment on the Lower East Side in July 2020.
Haspil allegedly forced his way inside Saleh’s apartment where he first tasered him and then stabbed him to death.
His lawyer, Sam Roberts, told the jury that Haspil suffered from ‘extreme emotional disturbance,’ which led him to kill.
The suspect had also pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges which carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years to life behind bars if he is convicted.
If the jury convicts him of manslaughter due to his ’emotionally disturbed’ defence, he might receive a lighter sentence of between five and 25 years.
Fearing his girlfriend would leave him, Haspil worked out his only suitable options were ‘suicide or homicide’.
Haspil was initially caught by Saleh having learned of him stealing $90,000 initially but he decided not to press charges after seeing the man as his protégé.
Instead, he allowed him to pay him back through a payment plan yet Haspil continued to steal from Saleh’s company using a PayPal account. Once again, he was found out.
“Over this period of time, he was planning not only to commit the homicide but to get away with it …To cover it up and how to erase his debt and prevent Fahim Saleh from testifying in criminal proceedings,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Linda Ford told the court.
Prosecutors described finding a Makita saw, demolition bags containing body parts, limbs and a Home Depot receipt inside Saleh’s home.
They said that over the course of three years, Haspil stole from Saleh in PayPal and Intuit transfers, and that he kept transferring money to himself even four days after Saleh had died.
Detectives started investigating Haspil after finding text messages in which Saleh accused Haspil of stealing the money, according to police sources.
Saleh was tasered and then stabbed multiple times before being dismembered, police said.
Daily Mail mentioned that video gotten from inside the 265 East Houston apartment building showed Saleh was followed into the elevator by a man – believed to be Haspil – who was wearing a black suit and mask.
