NEW YORK — Disgraced financier Bernard L. Madoff tells a newspaper that banks and hedge funds were “complicit” in his scheme to fleece victims out of billions of dollars.

Madoff told The New York Times in his first interview for publication since his 2008 arrest that the financial institutions “were complicit in one form or another.” He did not name any specific institution. The story was published online Tuesday.

The court-appointed trustee seeking to recover money on behalf of his victims has filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase, his primary banker. The bank has claimed no wrongdoing.

Madoff also said his family didn’t know about the Ponzi scheme.

Madoff spoke to the Times over e-mail and during a two-hour interview at Butner Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, N.C., where he is serving a 150-year sentence.