US judge OKs $4.75M settlement in 'kids for cash' case

His fine of $4,750,000 comes out to $1,979 for each youth. Safe to say he netted much, much more for each at his businesses.

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/other/us-judge-oks-dollar475m-settlement-in-kids-for-cash-case/ar-BBlG1wJ

Canadian Press
Aug. 12, 2015

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — A U.S. judge has approved a $4.75 million settlement between a businessman at the centre of a Pennsylvania juvenile justice scandal and youths sent to his detention centres by a corrupt judge.

Robert Powell was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in the scandal that became known as "kids for cash," a kickback scheme that led the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to vacate the convictions of thousands of juveniles.

Powell testified he was forced [forced?] to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to former Judges Mark Ciavarella Jr. and Michael Conahan in return for their support of his two private juvenile facilities.

The settlement agreement, approved Monday, covers at least 2,400 juveniles who appeared before Ciavarella between January 2003 and May 2008.

Prosecutors said Ciavarella ordered youths to detention for a wide range of relatively minor infractions, thus helping to fill the beds of Powell's PA Child Care and its sister facility, Western PA Child Care.

Ciavarella and Conahan are serving lengthy prison terms in connection with the scandal.

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http://citizensvoice.com/18-month-sentence-for-powell-kids-for-cash-financier-and-star-witness-1.1227829

18-month sentence for Powell, kids-for-cash financier and star witness

By Michael Sisak and Patrick Sweet, Staff Writers
Published: November 4, 2011

Kids-for-cash financier Robert J. Powell had a choice. Instead of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks, he could have simply told the judges running the scheme to “go to hell,” a federal judge said this morning.

The judge, Edwin M. Kosik, of U.S. District Court, offered the brash assessment as he denied Powell’s request for a sentence lighter than federal guidelines and deductions for his ample cooperation would allow. Powell, the federal judge said, must serve 18 months in federal prison and pay $60,200 in fines.

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Powell, once a successful trial lawyer and political power player, pleaded guilty two years ago to paying $770,000 to former Luzerne County judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan, who supported his effort to build two for-profit detention centers and then filled them with thousands of juveniles.

Kosik, though, did depart from federal sentencing guidelines — which called for a 27-to-33-month sentence — in light of Powell’s cooperation with other prosecutions — notably those of Ciavarella, Conahan and former Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Toole.

Federal prosecutors, taking Powell’s cooperation into consideration, recommended Kosik impose a sentence of 12 to 18 months. Powell’s attorney, Joseph D’Andrea, urged Kosik to give his client no more than 12 months in prison or, ideally, probation or house arrest.

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