A former Kauaçi mortgage broker who admitted to defrauding more than 50 people out of $30 million drove his truck off a cliff into a ravine in Washington state, killing himself today, the day he was due in federal court in Honolulu for sentencing, according to law enforcement officials.

The body of James W. Lull, 60, was pulled from the wreckage of a white, 2007 Ford Explorer Sport Trac at the bottom of a ravine at about 1:30 p.m. today, according to Sgt. Ed McAvoy of the Washington State Patrol. That was half an hour before Lull was to appear in federal court in Honolulu where he was likely to be sentenced to jail time.
Lull’s attorney, Peter Wolff, a federal public defender, said he spoke by phone with Lull on Wednesday. Lull, who was in Seattle, indicated that he would be flying to Hawaiçi in time for today’s 2 p.m. hearing.
Instead, his body was being pulled from the ravine.
“Where Mr. Lull left the roadway it was about a 200-foot drop,” McAvoy said. Officers did not find a suicide note from the wreckage of the truck, McAvoy said.
Lull declared bankruptcy in 2006 and moved to the Seattle area, where he was living when he was indicted in Hawaiçi on charges of operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of tens of millions of dollars.
The wreckage of Lull’s white pickup truck was reported to the Washington State Patrol at 1:15 p.m. by a trucker driving over the Fred Redmon Bridge on Interstate 82, about eight miles north of Yakima, Wash.
Lull’s failure to show in court in Honolulu prompted the issuance of a bench warrant and spurred a manhunt by U.S. Marshals and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Both agencies received word this afternoon that Lull was dead.
After crossing the Fred Redmon Bridge, Lull apparently drove into an open field and then through a barbed wire fence and onto property maintained by the U.S. Army Yakima Training Center. Lull then apparently drove his truck off a 200-foot cliff into the ravine where it tumbled and flipped until coming to rest on its wheels.
Lull, who maintained a residence in Kirkland, Wash., was under federal investigation for possible new crimes in Washington state and showed “deception” when asked in a March lie detector test if he had hidden assets from his victims, according to federal court papers.
Lull, a former Kauaçi mortgage broker, pled guilty last September to defrauding dozens of victims out of $30 million.
U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway was originally scheduled to sentence Lull April 14 but ordered a month’s delay after hearing from some of Lull’s victims and saying she wanted more information about the extent of Lull’s cooperation in recovering their money.
The rescheduled hearing in Mollway’s court today ended after less than 25 minutes, when Lull’s status changed from defendant to fugitive.
News of Lull’s death was not reported until after the hearing.
Wolff, Lull’s attorney, told Mollway that he had no idea where his client might be.
“I thought he would have been here,” he said.