HONOLULU — A former Hawaii mortgage broker who had admitted to cheating investors out of as much as $30 million in a Ponzi scheme was found dead after driving off a 200-foot cliff near Yakima, authorities in Washington state said.
The body of James W. Lull, 60, of Kirkland, was found Thursday, the day he was to be sentenced in Honolulu federal court. Lull had pleaded guilty to wire fraud in September and had faced a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
A trucker on Interstate 82 spotted a white vehicle at the bottom of a canyon, the Washington State Patrol said. A trooper climbed down and found Lull dead behind the wheel, 12 to 48 hours after the crash, it said.
Lull left the interstate and drove across a field and through a fence to reach the cliff, troopers said.
Officers did not find a suicide note from the wreckage of the truck, according to Sgt. Ed McAvoy of the Washington State Patrol.
Word of Lull’s death hadn’t reached Hawaii by the time his sentencing hearing was to start.
With no explanation as to Lull’s absence, Assistant U.S. Attorney Clare Connors asked U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway to issue a bench warrant for his arrest. The judge granted the request and revoked Lull’s $100,000.
Lull’s defense attorney, federal public defender Peter Wolff, had said Lull told him Wednesday he would arrive in Hawaii for sentencing at least an hour before the court proceedings were to begin.
“I fraudulently obtained funds from clients and other people on Kauai,” Lull, a former mortgage broker on the island, had told U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren in September.
Lull used his position as Kauai branch manager of U.S. Financial Mortgage to access clients’ confidential financial information and then persuade them to invest millions in side deals with the promise of high returns, prosecutors said. He used money from new investors to pay off earlier investors, they said.
Lull pleaded guilty to committing wire fraud on four occasions, dating back to January 2006 when he persuaded a Hawaii resident to wire $630,000 to invest in a U.S. Financial client’s property here.
Lull could have been fined $250,000 and ordered to pay back his more than 50 victims between $20 million and $30 million.
He filed for personal bankruptcy in December 2006, listing more than $31 million in debts and $6.7 million in assets. Bankruptcy records alleged Lull had hidden antiques, collectibles and jewels that could be used to repay some of his debts.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
