On July 12, Howard Janoske, co-owner of an HVAC and plumbing company in Maryland, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to six months of home confinement and two years of supervised probation for his role in a conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, theft and embezzlement over a three-year period. He also was ordered to pay restitution in the sum of $23,367, pay a fine of $25,000 and forfeit $92,432 in assets. Janoske had pleaded guilty in March. The actions follow a joint probe by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards and Office of Inspector General.
As Union Corruption Update had reported, Janoske and a business agent of a large, unnamed Herndon, Va.-based union had entered into an illegal play-for-pay arrangement. Through his company, Janoske from about mid-2012 until mid-2015 paid the official tens of thousands of dollars for personal home services in return for guaranteed union contracts. To recoup the cost of the bribes, Janoske, with the help of subordinates, submitted inflated or fraudulent invoices to the union for reimbursement. The business agent, Michael Carney, pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme in May. His sentencing is set for October.