WILKES-BARRE — A federal judge has approved a $4.75 million settlement by a businessman at the center of a Pennsylvania juvenile justice scandal.

The judge Monday approved letting Robert Powell pay that amount to settle the lawsuit filed by youths sent to his detention centers — including one in Butler County — by a judge in a “kids for cash” scheme.

The agreement covers at least 2,400 juveniles whom then-Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. found delinquent or sent to a detention center Powell owned between January 2003 and May 2008.

Powell was sentenced to 18 months in prison for kicking back more than $700,000 to Ciavarella and another former Luzerne County judge, Michael Conahan, for supporting Powell’s two private juvenile facilities. Both former judges are serving prison terms, too.

Plaintiffs have until Oct. 5 to submit a claim.

One of the centers Powell used to own was Western PA Child Care center on Route 38 in Allegheny Township.