A personal assistant convicted of killing and dismembering his former tech entrepreneur boss after stealing about US$400,000 from him was sentenced on Tuesday to 40 years to life in prison, Manhattan’s district attorney said.
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Tyrese Haspil, 25, was found guilty in June of murder, grand larceny and other charges in the 2020 death of his former boss, Fahim Saleh.
Prosecutors said Haspil had been hired as an assistant for Saleh, whose ventures included a ride-hailing motorcycle start-up in Nigeria, but quickly began to siphon money from Saleh’s businesses. Haspil resigned a year later but continued to steal money, even after Saleh discovered the theft and let Haspil repay him over two years to avoid criminal prosecution.
Haspil decided to kill Saleh over concerns that his former boss would discover he was continuing to steal from his companies, prosecutors said.
On July 13, 2020, Haspil, wearing a black suit and a mask, followed Saleh into the lift of his luxury apartment building in Manhattan and shocked him in the back with a taser when the lift doors opened into Saleh’s apartment. Saleh fell to the floor and Haspil stabbed him to death, authorities said.