Henry Kaufman, the Wall Street economist known as Dr Doom, and Kevin Bacon, the Hollywood actor, have emerged as the latest victims of Bernard Madoff's $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

Mr Kaufman, a prominent economist who came to be regarded as a financial oracle, has lost several million dollars through a brokerage account which he held with Bernard L. Madoff Securities for more than five years, he told the Wall Street Journal.

He told the Journal that his loss through Madoff was "no more than a couple per cent of my entire net worth" and "immaterial to my financial wellbeing".

It has also emerged that Kevin Bacon, the actor who recently appeared in Frost/Nixon, and his wife Kyra Sedgwick, an actress, were investors with Mr Madoff.

Allen Eichorn, spokesman for Mr Bacon, told New York magazine: "I can confirm that they had investments with Mr. Madoff — no further specifics or comment beyond that."

Other members of the Hollywood set have been affected. The Wunderkinder Foundation, the charity set up by Steven Spielberg, the director, has been hit, and Jerry Katzenberg, founder of DreamWorks animation. Eric Roth, who wrote the screenplay for Forrest Gump, was also exposed.

Now president of Henry Kaufman & Co, his financial consulting firm, Mr Kaufman, 81, served as an economist at the New York Fed before joining Salomon Brothers in 1962. He remained at the investment bank until 1988, as chief economist and later managing director.

It was for his bearish interest rate forecasts at Salomon, during the economic turbulence of the Seventies and Eighties, that the inflation-wary Mr Kaufman became known as Dr Doom.

He also served on the board of Lehman Brothers, as chairman of the finance and risk committee, before the collapse of the bank in September.

In common with other Madoff investors, he was a noted supporter of Jewish institutions.

He told the Journal that he had been "shocked" to hear of the alleged fraud, the biggest in history.

"You ask yourself, how could that happen? He was a reputable individual," he said.

He said Mr Madoff's "background, his associations" were sources of comfort, and gestured towards the wider financial situation when he said the fraud was "another reflection of loose credit, of very rapid credit expansion ... which tends to breed all kinds of excesses".

Mr Madoff is due to make a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission later today. The filing will not be public, but Mr Madoff is expected to provide names and locations of entities that held accounts or assets for his company.

The FBI, which is under pressure to bring a criminal case against Mr Madoff, is understood to be closely monitoring the personal activities of former employees of the financier's firm.

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