The Picower Foundation, in Palm Beach, Fla., with assets of $1-billion, announced that it will cease operating because its money was managed by Bernard L. Madoff, the investor accused in a major Ponzi scheme that continues to reverberate through the business and charity worlds, reports The New York Times.

It follows several other foundations that announced planned closures due to losses from the investment scheme. The fallout from the scandal, which reports have said ended with the loss of $50-billion in investors’ money, continues to ripple throughout philanthropy. Among the latest stories from around the country:

The Boston Globe reports that Jewish community leaders are saying the effects of Mr. Madoff’s scheme, coupled with the loss of wealth due to the recession, may force charities to close or merge. One Boston-area rabbi tells the Globe that people are just starting to consider the “historic setback” the scandal will prove to Jewish organizations.

Another Globe article examines the trust — which some have called “blind” — that charities and investors put in Mr. Madoff.

Two more institutions of higher education are reporting losses due to the Ponzi scheme. Those include Tufts University, whose $20-million loss is reported on in The Boston Globe, and the New York Law School, as reported on by Reuters.

The New York Law School is suing its investment firm, saying the firm “recklessly” allowed the bulk of the school’s money to be managed by Mr. Madoff.

In Washington, personal bank accounts and charitable endowments may have taken a hit of several hundred million dollars to more than $1-billion dollars. The Washington Post is tracking the details.

The story of how the family behind the JEHT Foundation, which announced its planned closure because of losses in the scheme, came to know and work with Mr. Madoff is recounted in an Associated Press report.

In California, investment advisers who encouraged their clients to work with Mr. Madoff are now dealing with the consequences, including the demise of some of their own family foundations, reports the Los Angeles Times.

An article in The Wall Street Journal tracks Mr. Madoff’s history as an investor and describes the mystery that surrounded him. The Journal also has a feature highlighting victims of the Ponzi scheme, from individual investors to nonprofit institutions.

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