On Monday, shares of UAL Corp. NASDAQ: UAUA) tanked following a story on the South Florida Sun-Sentinel website stating that the company had filed for bankruptcy. It turned out that the story was a rerun of a 2002 piece, apparently posted on the website by mistake.

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that the Securities & Exchange Commission has launched an informal probe into the circumstances surrounding the dissemination of the story and subsequent price drop, in an attempt to determine whether it may have been a case of deliberate manipulation and foul play.

Tribune, the parent company of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, has explained that the whole mess began when a single visit to the archived story early Sunday morning pushed the story onto its top business news page, where it was then picked up by Google News and Bloomberg.

That certainly doesn't sound nefarious, if it's the complete story, but it is a little scary: one night owl Googling old news stories can start a domino effect leading to national media outlets reporting the bankruptcy of a billion dollar company?

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal's "Fund Track" reported that some banks struggling to raise capital may sell their money management units. National City Corporation (NYSE: NCC) is selling its Allegiant Funds, Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) is considering selling its Fifth Third Asset Management, and KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) will possibly sell its Victory Capital Management unit.
• The Wall Street Journal also reported that Andrew Cuomo, the New York state Attorney General, is preparing to file civil securities-fraud charges against UBS AG (NYSE: UBS), possibly as early as this week. Sources said the lawsuit may include allegations of malfeasance by senior UBS executives.

WEB SITES:

• Bloomberg reported that money manager John Paulson, the owner of Paulson & Co., is launching a hedge fund that will provide capital to financial firms which have been damaged by the housing crisis. Paulson, who wants to open the fund by December, used bets against the U.S. housing market to help him earn $3.7B in 2007.
• After U.S. lawmakers reached a deal on legislation to alleviate the housing recession, the House of Representatives will today vote on a rescue plan for Fannie Mae -- Federal National Mortgage Association (NYSE: FNM) -- and Freddie Mac -- Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (NYSE: FRE). Representative Barney Frank said that the package, which increases the likelihood Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will get the authority to inject capital into the two, is "fully acceptable," Bloomberg reported.
• Oil trading losses forced SemGroup LP, which used to be America's 12th largest private company, to declare bankruptcy yesterday. Reuters noted that SemGroup LP's parent company is SemGroup Energy Partners LP (NASDAQ: SGLP).

Thanks to Gary Weiss' blog for bringing this one to my attention.

Beverlee Kamerling, 63, and her son, Nicholas Alexander, 22, have been indicted on 21 counts related to a large securities fraud scheme.

The pair, along with six others, allegedly took control of 6 companies (including America Asia Energy, Coattec Industries Inc., Detex Security Systems Inc. and Global Gaming Network Inc.), issued false and misleading press releases about the companies and engaged in fax blasts to promote the shares.

Of course, while all this happened they were also, allegedly, selling unregistered securities.

Real creative, mama and baby. That's only been done about 11 million times.

I've always wondered why more women don't seem to get involved in securities fraud -- it's possible that it's just a reflection of the fact that Wall Street is still mainly male-dominated. Or perhaps, women are just more honest.

In any case, we can chalk this one up as a victory for equal opportunity securities fraud. And it is heartwarming to see mother and child bonding over the bilking of penny-stock players.