To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: An appellate court upheld a judgment that clever omissions from statements made by a corporate officer constituted securities fraud. On January 22, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston, Massachusetts upheld a jury’s fraud verdict against an executive in a securities case tried in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. 1 In a 30-page opinion, the Court in SEC v. Johnston 2 refused to overturn a verdict finding that defendant David Johnston, the former chief financial officer of AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,