The Falsity-Scienter Inference

Abstract

This essay argues that, under certain circumstances in securities fraud cases, a statement’s well-pleaded falsity gives rise to a strong inference that the speaker acted with scienter. In particular, this essay contends that the well-pleaded falsity of a statement is sufficient to create a strong inference of scienter when (1) the truth is necessarily within the speaker’s core knowledge; and (2) the statement is sufficiently false to have necessarily caught the speaker’s attention. This falsity-scienter inference potentially applies in a variety of securities fraud contexts, including falsified CEO résumés, objectively unreasonable analyst opinions, and cooked books. In addition, the falsity-scienter inference supports adoption of the controversial “core operations inference” and provides guidance on the proper scope of this narrower inference.

Keywords: Securities Regulation, Securities Litigation, Scienter, Falsity, Pleading