‘Fahim Saleh's assistant used Saleh's credit card days after death’
Pathao co-founder Fahim Saleh's executive assistant used the tech CEO's credit card to buy balloons two days after, prosecutors say he killed him, the New York Post reported, citing security video.
In security footage shared by The Post, 21-year-old Tyrese Haspil was seen buying birthday balloons from a store in the Noho neighbourhood of Manhattan on Wednesday, one day after Saleh's body was found, and two days after he was seen getting into his apartment building's elevator with Haspil.
Law-enforcement sources told The Post that Haspil bought the balloons using Saleh's credit card, the paper said.
They told NBC New York that the balloons spelled out "22" and were for Haspil's girlfriend's birthday.
The Post reported that other videos it reviewed showed Haspil and a friend going shopping on Wednesday and Thursday while carrying bags from the French brand APC and Christian Louboutin.
Haspil was arrested on Friday and charged with second-degree murder.
NBC New York reported that Haspil was identified by police through ID cards that had fallen in Saleh's apartment.
Haspil was seen on surveillance camera buying a saw and cleaning supplies, according to a criminal complaint that NBC New York said it viewed, and on Tuesday Haspil returned to Saleh's condo to dismember his former boss's body and clean up the grisly scene.
While doing so, Saleh's sister buzzed the apartment, which caused Haspil to flee the building through a different exit.
The New York Times reported on Friday that the motive for the murder may have been financial. Saleh had learned that Haspil had "stolen tens of thousands of dollars from him," though recently he was working on a repayment plan, The Times said, citing police sources.
Haspil is being held without bail. His lawyers have urged the public "to keep an open mind" about the case.
"There is much more to this narrative than the accusations, an arrest by the police, and a charge by the district attorney," they said in a statement to NBC New York.