The company formerly known as General Motors is trading again on the stock market after a three-day trading halt, and, inexplicably, it still has a market capitalization of $355 million.

When GM’s ongoing operations emerged from bankruptcy on Friday, the shell of the old company was renamed Motors Liquidation Corp. On Wednesday, Motors Liquidation shares resumed trading under the new symbol MTLQQ, and they lost about half of their value in early trading. However, according to GM and almost everyone who has looked at the situation, their true value should be close to zero. The Securities and Exchange Commission and FINRA issued an investor alert saying that “there may be widespread misunderstanding” about the shares’ value. The alert adds:

Unfortunately, investors may have received confusing, potentially misleading, information about the old GM. As recently as last Friday (July 10, 2009), newsletters and other promoters have touted the purchase of the stock.

If the SEC and FINRA have evidence of such manipulation, I hope we’ll see some prosecutions soon.