"Whether the CEO lied to you or not really depends upon context...."

While you have a point here, I think the real issue is that the CEO never came back to lejeanvaljean and said "I made a mistake, we're going to have to...." Instead, without warning, he hired an old friend who's not apparently qualified for the position.

It's the latter act that tells lejeanvaljean exactly how bad his position in this company is. Heck, it wouldn't be in the least surprising for him to get fired no matter what his performance is going forward, that's a very common pattern in companies that turn political like this.