Actors Bacon, Sedgwick among Madoff victims

They join the likes of Spielberg, Katzenberg in losing money with scam

Paul Buck / EPA file

Actor Kevin Bacon and his wife, actress Kyra Sedgwick

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updated 10:36 a.m. ET Dec. 31, 2008

NEW YORK - Call it six degrees of Bernard Madoff.

The actor Kevin Bacon and his wife, actress Kyra Sedgwick, are among the many victims of the massive Ponzi scheme run by the disgraced New York money manager.

Bacon's publicist, Allen Eichhorn, confirmed Tuesday that the couple had investments with Madoff. He wouldn't say how much money they might have lost.

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Madoff told federal investigators that his investment business was "a lie" that lost as much as $50 billion.

Other Hollywood victims have included a charity linked to director Steven Spielberg and his DreamWorks partner Jeffrey Katzenberg, and screenwriter Eric Roth, whose credits include "Forrest Gump" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland on Tuesday approved the transfer of $28.1 million to cover expenses tied to the liquidation of Madoff’s investment firm.

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Congress to examine Madoff case next week

Lawmakers will take their first close look next Monday at Madoff’s alleged fraud and why the Securities and Exchange Commission failed to discover the scandal.

Information gleaned from the hearing will help guide Congress as it attempts to reform laws regulating the U.S. financial system, said Rep. Paul Kanjorski, a Pennsylvania Democrat and chairman of the House capital markets subcommittee.

Irving Picard, the trustee presiding over the liquidation of Madoff’s investment firm, said Tuesday he needed the $28.1 million to cover employee salaries and other costs, according to court documents. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. previously agreed to transfer the funds, but the bankruptcy judge first had to approve the transfer.