The trustee in charge of recovering assets from Bernard Madoff’s fraudulent investment scheme said on Thursday that $21.2bn had been lost through the “Ponzi” scheme, a number far worse than was thought as recently as June.

When Mr Madoff, who is serving a 150-year jail term, was sentenced the US government estimated that $13bn was missing. Irving Picard, the court appointed trustee, said that now that he had examined accounts dating back to 1983, the losses were deeper and could continue to grow as more claims are made.