“Stocks of companies that have no history — or at least no history that they have disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission — are suddenly moving higher as stock promoters put out information that is impossible to verify and, in at least one instance, is apparently false,” writes Floyd Norris in today’s New York Times.

“The information, promoting two obscure stocks called Liquidix and UniverCell, was distributed by a stock promoter through the relatively new advertising medium of e- mail messages, which it sent to registered users of news Web sites, including The New York Times on the Web and CBSMarketwatch.com.”

“The two news sites said they had distributed the advertising without trying to verify its accuracy.”

” ‘It was a mistake,’ Christine M. Mohan, a spokeswoman for The New York Times Company, said last night. ‘We won’t take ads of that sort again.’ Larry Kramer, the chief executive of CBSMarketwatch.com, agreed. ‘This was a mistake,’ he said last night. ‘We should have looked more closely into the company that bought the advertising.’ “

“Internet Marketing Solutions Inc., a public relations company based in Warwick, R.I., paid the news sites to send e-mail messages promoting Liquidix Inc., a company that it said was in the business of selling fluid vacuum seals to the semiconductor industry, and UniverCell Holdings, a company that the promotion says rents cellular telephones.”

“Liquidix shares began to move on Nov. 19, the day after registered users of the Times Web site received an e-mail message recommending purchase of Liquidix shares. ‘From NYTimes.com, A Special Investment Report from StockTopics.com,’ the message read. ‘Aggressive Growth! Strong Buy Recommendation!’ The message continued with the statement: ‘Over the last six months investors who have followed our recommendations have realized an average return of 78 percent on their money.’ “

“Internet Marketing Solutions owns Stock Topics.com, which distributed the e-mail promotions, and Wall Street Alert, which wrote the promotions.”

“The e-mail promotions disclosed that Wall Street Alert had received 250,000 shares of Liquidix stock and $100,000 in cash for promoting the stock. The e-mail message also said Internet Marketing Solutions and individuals at the company “may make purchases or sales at any time” of stocks that the company promotes.”

“The Liquidix promotion was the second one from StockTopics.com distributed by the Times site. The other, on Nov. 14, promoted UniverCell Holdings, which was then trading at $1 a share. Both companies trade on the over-the-counter bulletin board, which has no listing requirements. Neither company has filed any financial reports for its current operations. UniverCell Holdings paid 300,000 of its shares to Wall Street Alert for the promotions.”

“On Sunday, CBSMarketwatch.com distributed to its customers a strong buy recommendation from StockTopics.com on UniverCell, whose shares rose 12 cents yesterday, to $1.30.”

” Mr. Kramer said that one reason his company had chosen to distribute the Stock Topics.com e-mail promotion was that the Times Company had accepted e-mail ads from the same company. ‘We put on an additional disclaimer to try to make it clear to people what it is — it’s essentially promotional material from a company,’ Mr. Kramer said. ‘We satisfied ourselves that we were able to do enough to clearly label what it is.’ “

“That disclaimer said CBSMarketwatch .com, an affiliate of CBS, ‘expressly disclaims all warranties in connection with the material in the e-mail and shall not be liable for damages arising from any statements contained in it.’ The Times e-mail had no such disclaimer, although it did say the e- mail message was a ‘paid advertisement.’ “