Howard Janoske

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 … Read More ➡

This March, Union Corruption Update made mention of an unnamed union official who enabled a convicted Maryland contractor, Howard Janoske, to siphon funds from his unnamed union for his own personal use. At least the official now has a name, and a criminal conviction to go along with it. On May 16, Michael Carney, a former facilities and real estate manager for the Herndon, Va.-based union, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, theft and embezzlement of funds over a three-year period. Carney’s conviction, like that of Janoske, follows an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards and Office of Inspector General.

Michael Carney, now 63, a resident of Ashburn, Va., who handled physical plant issues for the union, also saw his job as an opportunity to score some illegal money. … Read More ➡