A Salt Lake City motel manager accused of turning a rundown property into a hub for commercial sex will serve 180 days in jail and three years of probation, after a jury convicted him of money laundering and exploiting prostitution and acquitted him of a pattern-of-unlawful-activity charge. Sameer Syed, the 35-year-old manager of the Salt City Inn Motel, was sentenced by Third District Judge Todd Hilbig, who suspended prison terms of one to 15 years for money laundering and up to five years for exploiting prostitution.
The jury found Syed guilty on May 14, 2026, of money laundering, a second-degree felony punishable by one to 15 years in prison, and exploiting prostitution, a third-degree felony carrying up to five years, according to KSL.com. Jurors acquitted him of running a pattern of unlawful activity, a second-degree felony, and found him not guilty of two additional counts of exploiting prostitution. Judge Hilbig ultimately ordered Syed to serve three years of probation on top of the jail time, giving him credit for 92 days he had already spent behind bars.
A Case Built on Undercover Buys
The investigation traces back to summer 2019, when the Utah Attorney General's Office's SECURE Strike Force began looking into the Salt City Inn at 1025 N. 900 West. Investigation tips claimed Syed and motel owner Rezvan Saisani encouraged illegal activity for financial benefit, and charging documents cited surveillance and undercover operations that followed. On Feb. 6, 2020, law enforcement seized $1,826 in cash believed to be prostitution proceeds along with motel registration records, according to the Utah Attorney General's charging documents.
Those undercover operations, detailed in charging documents reported by KSL.com in April 2020, found that motel management charged a mandatory $10 “visitor fee” to anyone entering the property to see sex workers, and traded free rent to long-term residents in exchange for sexual favors. Separately, Gephardt Daily reported that Saisani himself steered an undercover agent to the north side of the property during an early 2020 sting, telling him the “better girls” were there. Syed was accused of encouraging prostitutes to use motel rooms for commercial sex and was tied to allegations involving both commercial sex and drug trafficking at the property.
Charges Dropped and a Mixed Verdict
The case did not move in a straight line toward conviction. Three charges were dismissed ahead of Syed's trial, including two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor — a second-degree felony — dropped in 2021, and one count of failing to remove a public nuisance, a class-B misdemeanor, dismissed immediately before trial began. A witness testified at Syed's trial.
The case began with 2019 tips and culminated in Syed's Aug. 12, 2026, sentencing, with dismissed charges and the jury's mixed verdict acquitting Syed of the pattern-of-unlawful-activity count. Salt Lake police worked alongside the state task force throughout the investigation.
Owner Reached a Plea Deal Years Earlier
Motel owner Rezvan Saisani did not go to trial. In March 2023, Saisani pleaded guilty to failing to remove a public nuisance and to the same underlying charges Syed was later found guilty of, accepting a plea deal that dismissed his other charges. Judge Douglas Hogan sentenced Saisani to 180 days in jail for the misdemeanor, suspended for 90 days, plus the same suspended prison sentences Syed would later receive for the felony counts.
Saisani was also ordered to serve 60 days of home confinement and has since completed three years of probation, after which his second-degree felony conviction was reduced to a third-degree felony.
A Task Force Built for Cases Like This
Utah's SECURE Strike Force led the Salt City Inn probe, working with Salt Lake City police.
The financial charges used against Syed and Saisani were part of the case against them. Syed and Saisani ultimately received suspended prison sentences along with jail time and probation.
