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Ryan Glidewell

Defendant

ERC
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Person
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Defendant
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ERC
Updated

The profile

A Kingsport, Tennessee man who led a ring that set up at least eleven phony businesses with no employees and filed employment tax returns for them, claiming more than $3.4 million in COVID-19 credits; the IRS paid $1.8 million. He was sentenced in 2026 to 84 months in prison; his two co-defendants got 65 and 50 months.

Identity and role

Ryan Glidewell, 53 at sentencing, of Kingsport, Tennessee, was the lead defendant in an Eastern District of Tennessee prosecution brought in Greeneville by the Justice Department's tax prosecutors and the U.S. Attorney's Office, after an investigation by IRS Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Secret Service. His co-defendants were Aylissa Glidewell (spelled Alyssa in the final release), 35 when sentenced in 2025, and Edward Zanes, 51, both also of Kingsport.

The scheme and pandemic-relief role

The defendants, "led by Ryan Glidewell," created at least eleven businesses "which lacked any employees or operations, for the sole purpose of falsely claiming the credits," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. They filed employment tax returns for those businesses claiming the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) and the paid sick and family leave credit, and had the refund checks mailed to addresses they controlled.

The eleven businesses claimed over $3.4 million in ERC and leave-credit refunds. The IRS paid $1.8 million, a little more than half. In the $2.9 billion New Jersey complaint against Rudolph Johnson and two others, the Treasury paid about 0.035 percent of the amount claimed.

  • Aylissa Glidewell: pleaded guilty in March 2025 to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud; sentenced November 20, 2025 by U.S. District Judge Clifton Corker to 50 months and about $1,806,637 in restitution.
  • Ryan Glidewell: pleaded guilty on July 9, 2025 to conspiring to commit wire and mail fraud, aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return, and money laundering; sentenced in 2026 to 84 months in prison.
  • Edward Zanes: pleaded guilty in September 2025 to tax crimes and wire fraud; sentenced May 14, 2026 to 65 months.
  • Judge Corker ordered the three to pay $1,806,637 in restitution to the United States, the amount the IRS paid out, and each received three years of supervised release.

Where they are now (2025–2026)

The May 2026 release is the last public record of the case we found. The three sentences total 199 months for $1.8 million paid out. Leon Haynes, whose returns got more than $55 million paid, received 144.

Sources

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