As pyramid schemes go, this one was impressive. Conning old ladies out of a couple of grands worth of pension money is one thing but Mr Madoff managed to knock up $50bn out of some of the biggest names in finance. Bernard Madoff, the Wall Street broker and former Nasdaq chairman is believed to have told employees that he was “finished”, that he had “absolutely nothing”, and that “it’s all just one big lie”.

Guess it’s never too late to repent, shame about the cash though. Click here for Dealbraker’s take on the moment he broke the news to his sons… "Dad, what’s wrong? Are you ok?"

So who signed up for easy money then? (For future reference we’ve included this helpful, easy to understand guide – see left)

Royal Bank of Scotland is the latest institution to admit exposure with up to £400 million at risk through "trading and collateralised lending to funds of hedge funds invested with Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities".

French bank, Natixis, a subsidiary of Caisse d’Epargne and Banque Populaire, said it could potentially lose up to 450m euros (£402m; $605m).

Japanese bank Nomura said its exposure was relatively small, at about 27.5bn yen (£201m).

The list goes on…

Man Group, the world’s biggest listed hedge fund manager, confirmed that its RMF division has about $360 million (£240 million) invested in two funds that are "directly or indirectly sub-advised by Madoff Securities and for which Madoff Securities acts as broker/dealer executing the investment strategy".

RMF is an adviser to Bramdean Asset Management, the fund run by Nicola Horlick, who admitted last week to an exposure of about $25 million through her firm’s listed Bramdean Alternatives portfolio.

HSBC, Santander, the Spanish bank that owns Britain’s Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley, as well as BNP Paribas, France’s largest bank, are also exposed to Mr Madoff’s funds.

Fairfield Greenwich Group, the hedge fund, said that it had $7.5 billion in investments linked to Madoff. Banque Benedict Hentsch Fairfield Partners, a private Swiss bank, has $47.5 million of clients’ money at risk.

Vincent Tchenguiz, the property magnate, who is one of Britain’s richest men, is understood to have invested £40 million with Bramdean.

The Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation, an American charity that supports Jewish programmes, invested its entire $8 million endowment with Mr Madoff. The head of the charity has said she does not expect it to survive.

Other wealthy individuals affected include Norman Braman, former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles American football team, Fred Wilpon, owner of the New York Mets baseball team, and J. Ezra Merkin, the chairman of GMAC Financial Services.

Red faces all round.

No doubt the outfall will create some interesting legal work for some firms once the dust settles a bit.