Former Kaua'i mortgage broker James W. Lull, accused by his creditors of stealing as much as $50 million from them, will plead guilty to wire fraud in federal court this afternoon.

The U.S. attorney's office here filed a criminal information against Lull on Friday alleging his involvement in fraudulent transactions worth more than $3 million in early 2006.

He is scheduled to enter a guilty plea in the case today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren.

Lull's attorney, U.S. Public Defender Peter Wolff, declined to comment yesterday. The prosecutor in the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Clare Connors, also declined comment.

Lull was the branch manager of mortgage lender U.S. Financial Mortgage Corp. on Kaua'i from 1995 to 2006. He filed personal bankruptcy papers here in December 2006, listing more than $31 million in debts and $6.7 million in assets.

According to papers filed in the criminal and bankruptcy cases, Lull persuaded many U.S. Financial clients to invest in "side-deal" business opportunities that he promised would pay high rates of return. "Once entrusted with the investors' money, Lull did not use the money he received as promised," the government charged Friday.

"In fact, Lull appropriated the money for his own purposes to the detriment of his investors," the U.S. attorney's office alleged.

Among the investors Lull listed as creditors in the bankruptcy case are Kaua'i world-class professional surfers Andy and Bruce Irons.

Bill Irons, father of the Irons brothers, said earlier this year that his sons "pretty much gave up hope" of recovering $1 million invested with Lull between 1998 and 2006.

Bill Irons said his sons "are lucky compared to some of the people in this community" who did business with Lull.

"They're young, they're successful, but some of the people here, they've lost their life savings," Irons said.

He said Lull ended up hurting a lot of people on the Garden Isle.

"His friends, his business partners, he took them all. Stuff like this in a community this small just crushes people," said Irons.

The Irons brothers are not included among the victims specified in the criminal case against Lull.

One, identified by the government only as K.W., wired $1 million from a bank account in Bermuda to Lull in January 2006 after Lull promised a 12 percent return on the money in just 30 days, the government charged.

The same person wired another $695,000 in March 2006 after Lull promised to repay the money, plus 12 percent interest, in 10 days. Lull never repaid the money.

Another investor who gave Lull $760,000 in October 2005 later pressed Lull for repayment and was given personal checks by Lull to "appease" his concerns, according to court papers. "The checks bounced," the government said.

A third U.S. Financial client, identified only as J.P., wired $630,000 to Lull after being promised the money would earn "one per cent interest for several months," the government charged.

Lull's bankruptcy case is still under way. The court-appointed trustee overseeing the case, Ronald Kotoshirodo, has accused Lull of operating a "Ponzi scheme" in which early investors in a fraud are paid promised earnings with money from later investors. The scheme collapses when new sources of investment money dry up.

Kotoshirodo's lawyer, Stephen Jones, estimated Lull's debts in the bankruptcy case at $50 million.

After filing bankruptcy here, Lull moved to Washington state and began working for a mortgage loan company near Seattle.

According to bankruptcy papers, Lull then borrowed $27,000 from a co-worker in Washington, Paul Veldhuis.

Lull didn't repay the loan and Veldhuis then gained control of a wine shipment Lull received from Kaua'i in March 2008, Kotoshirodo said in the bankruptcy case. Now Kotoshirodo is trying to recover the wine — 207 bottles with an estimated retail value of more than $46,000 — from Veldhuis.