More Banks, Celebs Losers in Madoff Scam

Bernard Madoff’s alleged Ponzi scheme, which federal investigators say cost investors $50 billion, continues to claim more victims, reports the Wall Street Journal. Spain’s Grupo Santander and France’s BNP Paribas said yesterday they’re on the list, as are charities involving Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel and director Steven Spielberg. And, Bloomberg adds, US regulators didn’t give Madoff’s operations as much scrutiny as normal, despite red flags.

The Royal Bank of Scotland, Man Group, Swiss bank UBS and Japan’s Nomura Holdings also said today they had hundreds of millions invested with Madoff, the Financial Times reports; HSBC says it could be out $1 billion. Real-estate billionaire Mortimer Zuckerman and the family foundation of New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg are also on the hook.

(More Bernard Madoff stories.)