A news statement from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office says that on Monday, the former executive assistant of a tech CEO was found guilty of killing his boss in 2020 and then cutting him up and putting the pieces back together.
Prosecutors say Tyrese Haspil, 25, killed Fahim Saleh, 33, so Saleh wouldn’t find out that Haspil had stolen about $400,000 from the CEO of the Nigerian motorcycle ride-hail company Gokada and a venture capitalist.
The DA’s office said that Haspil was found guilty on Monday of one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree grand theft, one count of second-degree burglary, and other charges.
“Tyrese Haspil tragically cut Mr. Saleh’s life short. He was a man from a close-knit immigrant family who followed his dreams to become a successful business owner,” said Alvin Bragg, the district attorney for Manhattan. “I hope that the verdict of today’s accountability can bring some comfort to Mr. Saleh’s family and friends as they continue to mourn his death.”
The report says that Haspil will likely be sentenced in September.
Haspil started working as Saleh’s helper in May 2018. As part of his job, he was responsible for managing Saleh’s money, which is how he got access to Saleh’s financial records, according to a release from the DA’s office.
The DA’s office said that Haspil started stealing from Saleh’s businesses in the fall over two different plans. The report says that Haspil set up several bank accounts, including a PayPal account, to move money between them. He also made fake statements and transactions to make sure that his boss wouldn’t notice.
The report said that Haspil quit in May 2019 but kept stealing money.
According to the release, Saleh addressed his former student for stealing $35,000 from his company in January 2020, after one of the frauds was found and linked to Haspil. He offered a settlement to pay back the debt and avoid going to jail.
The prosecutor’s office says Haspil promised to repay Saleh over two years, but he paid him back with money that he stole from the PayPal scheme, which led to him stealing almost $400,000.
Fearing that Saleh would find out about his continued theft, Haspil then planned to kill Saleh because he thought that killing his former boss would stop Saleh from speaking against him, according to the news release.
The report said that Haspil followed Saleh into his Lower East Side condo on July 13, 2020, tased him in the back, and stabbed him several times. The release says that Haspel went back to the flat the next day “to dismember the body and clean up the crime scene.”
The report said that Haspil left for a short time while trying to clean up the crime scene. When Saleh’s cousin went to the apartment to check on him, he found Saleh’s body with his head and limbs cut off. When Haspil saw police outside, he did not go back into the flat.
Haspil was caught by cops in Manhattan on July 17.
A lot of people knew Saleh for helping out new techies. His parents are from Bangladesh, but he was born in Saudi Arabia. He was born and raised in upstate New York and went to Bentley University in Massachusetts to get his degree in computer science.
