A class action has been initiated in the Federal Court by 50 former clients of Bell Potter Securities over the company’s alleged conduct with respect to the purchase of shares in a Brisbane biotechnology company, Progen Pharmaceuticals.

The former clients are being represented by law firm Slater & Gordon, which has said it will be alleged to the court that Bell Potter manipulated the market in Progen shares and engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct when it encouraged clients to buy the overvalued shares ahead of and subsequent to Bell Potter being a co-underwriter of a Progen capital raising.

Slater and Gordon solicitor Van Moulis said it was being alleged in the class action that reports published by Bell Potter analysts improperly inflated the value of Progen stock and were then used by brokers to promote the stock to clients.

He said investors were seeking compensation from Bell Potter for their share trading losses, legal costs plus interest.

Bell Potter has indicated it will be vigorously defending the claim.

Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a leading national securities firm headquartered in New York City, announces that a class action lawsuit has been commenced in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee on behalf of shareholders of Green Bankshares, Inc. ("Green Bankshares" or the "Company") /quotes/comstock/15*!grnb/quotes/nls/grnb (GRNB 2.56, -0.07, -2.66%) .

The complaint alleges that defendants knew or recklessly disregarded that their public statements concerning Green Bankshares' business, operations and prospects were materially false and misleading. Specifically, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose: (i) that the Company was overvaluing the collateral of certain loans; (ii) that, as such, Green Bankshares was failing to timely take impairment charges to reduce the carrying values of certain loans to appropriate market values; (iii) that the Company lacked adequate internal and financial controls; and (iv) that, as a result, the Green Bankshares' financial results were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On October 20, 2010, Green Bankshares announced its financial results for the 2010 fiscal Q3 and disclosed that the Company's net charge-offs increased on a sequential basis from $4.9 million in the prior quarter to $36.5 million. Furthermore, Green Bankshares indicated that it had engaged a third-party loan reviewer, which contributed to the asset quality-impact reflected in its Q3 results. As a result of this news, shares of the Company declined more than 43% to close at $3.68 per share on October 21, 2010.

On November 9, 2010, Green Bankshares announced that in consultation with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the Company had given notice to the U.S. Treasury Department that Green Bankshares was suspending the payment of regular quarterly cash dividends on the Company's Fixed Rate Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series A, issued to the U.S. Treasury Department. Moreover, Green Bankshares disclosed that two large relationships totaling approximately $31.4 million had defaulted during Q3. On this news, shares of Green Bankshares declined more than 29.5% to close at $2.57 per share on November 10, 2010.

If you purchased Green Bankshares common stock between January 19, 2010 and November 19, 2010 and you have lost in excess of $100,000.00, please request more information now by clicking here: www.faruqilaw.com/GRNB

Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP is a national law firm which represents investors and individuals in class action litigation. The firm is focused on providing exemplary legal services in complex litigation in the areas of securities, shareholder, antitrust and consumer litigation, through all phases of litigation. The firm has an experienced trial team which has achieved significant victories on behalf of the firm's clients.

If you purchased Green Bankshares common stock between January 19, 2010, and November 19, 2010 and wish to obtain additional information, please visit us at www.faruqilaw.com/GRNB or contact Juan E. Monteverde, Esq. either via e-mail at jmonteverde@faruqilaw.com or by telephone at (877) 247-4292 or (212) 983-9330.

Attorney Advertising. (C) 2010 Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP (www.faruqilaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. We are happy to discuss your particular case.

Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a leading national securities firm headquartered in New York City, announces that a class action lawsuit has been commenced in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee on behalf of shareholders of Green Bankshares, Inc. ("Green Bankshares” or the "Company”)

The complaint alleges that defendants knew or recklessly disregarded that their public statements concerning Green Bankshares’ business, operations and prospects were materially false and misleading. Specifically, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose: (i) that the Company was overvaluing the collateral of certain loans; (ii) that, as such, Green Bankshares was failing to timely take impairment charges to reduce the carrying values of certain loans to appropriate market values; (iii) that the Company lacked adequate internal and financial controls; and (iv) that, as a result, the Green Bankshares’ financial results were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
On October 20, 2010, Green Bankshares announced its financial results for the 2010 fiscal Q3 and disclosed that the Company’s net charge-offs increased on a sequential basis from $4.9 million in the prior quarter to $36.5 million. Furthermore, Green Bankshares indicated that it had engaged a third-party loan reviewer, which contributed to the asset quality-impact reflected in its Q3 results. As a result of this news, shares of the Company declined more than 43% to close at $3.68 per share on October 21, 2010.

The potential liability facing bankers arises from the $2 trillion in subprime, alt-A and option-adjustable rate mortgages that they underwrote and sold to investors, mostly as mortgage-backed securities during the home-lending boom of 2005 to 2007. The losses on the mortgages will be horrendous before the dust settles—over $700 billion on these and other so-called nonagency mortgage securities, according to New York mortgage-research specialist and broker Amherst Securities Group.

And now investors—from the federal housing giants Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNMA.OB - News) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FMCC.OB - News) to major bond managers like closely held Pacific Investment Management and BlackRock (NYSE: BLK - News) —are fighting back. They are seeking to put back the mortgages to the banks from whence the investment flotsam came and force the banks to eat much of the mortgage losses.

The argument hinges on the arcane contract principle of representations and warranties, known as reps and warranties in legal jargon. Namely, did the mortgages go bad because of the unanticipated nationwide collapse in home prices (a so-called exogenous factor) or are the banks responsible for the mess because they "misrepresented" to the mortgage purchasers the shoddy quality of the mortgages they put in securities and pools?

lready some of the buyers have enjoyed a modicum of success in their putback efforts. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have managed to return over $13 billion in defective mortgages and are gearing up to do even more. Before it's all over, the banks may have to swallow more than $30 billion in losses from Freddie and Fannie putbacks alone, according to an estimate by the Washington, D.C., mortgage-research boutique Compass Point Research & Trading. That's because no bank in the mortgage business can afford to play hardball with secondary market behemoths like Fannie and Freddie, the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) that own or guarantee about half of all home mortgages in the U.S.