A former personal assistant to the recently deceased Gokada founder and Chief Executive Officer, Fahim Saleh, has been arrested.
Saleh was gruesomely murdered earlier this week and his body was left decapitated and dismembered inside his Lower East Side apartment, in New York City.
The former personal assistant Tyrese Haspil, 21, is in police custody and expected to be charged with the murder of Saleh, according to New York Post.
Haspil once worked at Saleh’s venture capital firm, Adventure Capital.
“Mr Haspil was Mr Saleh’s executive assistant and handled his finances and personal matters. It is also believed that he owed the victim a significant amount of money,” the Chief of Detectives, Rodney Harrison, said at a brief news conference on Friday afternoon.
Police gathered that Haspil allegedly stole about $100,000 from the late tech entrepreneur but rather than handing him over to law enforcement agents, the late Gokada CEO brokered a repayment plan with him.
Haspil was arrested at 8:45 a.m. on Friday in the lobby of a building at 172 Crosby Street in SoHo.
“He tried to run,” said the building’s superintendent, who declined to give his name, explaining that he was not authorised to speak on behalf of the owner. The superintendent added that Haspil had arrived at the Crosby Street apartment at some point on Wednesday and that he was planning to leave on Monday.
“This was an act of charity that turned into an act of murder,” a source told New York Post.
Security footage from inside the elevator shows Haspil using a portable vacuum to try and cover his tracks, the source said.
Closed Circuit Television video from Saleh’s East Houston Street apartment building shows the businessman and a smartly dressed Haspil riding together in the elevator — which opens straight out to his apartment — on Monday afternoon.
Saleh’s ride-hailing start-up, Gokada, provided thousands of jobs in Lagos State before the government banned motorcycle operations from major routes in the West African economic hub.
