Massachusetts regulator finds new Madoff victims

Bernard Madoff walks back to his apartment in New York in this December 17, 2008 file photo.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts' top securities regulator said on Wednesday he has identified three more victims who lost millions of dollars in Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme.

The people came forward after his office sent an appeal through newspapers and financial advisors 12 days ago for victims to identify themselves, Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin said.

Galvin, one of the first state regulators to probe Wall Street's biggest-ever investment fraud, declined to say how much the people lost and did not give other details.

He expects more people to respond.

"There are lots of people who had no idea they were invested with Bernie Madoff, and we think we will find more," Galvin told Reuters.

Galvin's office is particularly interested in finding people who invested indirectly with Madoff by putting their money into funds that ultimately handed the cash to his firm.

Before issuing his appeal, Galvin's office had identified roughly a dozen Massachusetts residents who jointly invested less than $6 million in Madoff through Fairfield Greenwich, one of the prominent feeder funds that moved money to Madoff.

Madoff, 71, is serving a 150-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to engineering the $65 billion fraud for over two decades.

While Galvin's office has already identified state residents who invested with Madoff through Fairfield Greenwich, the regulator said he is still eyeing other feeder funds.

He also said he has no plans to settle a lawsuit against Fairfield Greenwich at this moment because more victims are still being identified.

His office has scheduled a hearing in the Fairfield Greenwich case for September 9.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; editing by Andre Grenon)