Sony Investigation Allegedly Called WPP Media Practice a "Global Crime Scheme," Court Filing Says

A court filing in an ongoing lawsuit against WPP now alleges that Sony, one of the ad giant's biggest clients, conducted its own investigation into WPP's media operation and concluded the company was running what Sony's own presentation allegedly called a "global crime scheme."

The claim surfaced in an amended complaint filed Thursday in New York State Supreme Court on behalf of Richard Foster, a former longtime GroupM executive, according to Adweek. Foster sued WPP in November, alleging he was fired in retaliation for raising concerns about an alleged kickback scheme inside the company's media investment arm. GroupM was rebranded WPP Media last year.

In 2023, Chinese authorities detained three GroupM China executives over an alleged illegal kickback scheme valued at roughly 1.2 billion yuan, about $176 million, according to Adweek. Those executives were later convicted. Sony's investigation reportedly followed in the aftermath of that scandal.

What the lawsuit claims Sony found

According to Business Insider, the lawsuit says Sony presented its findings to WPP in 2025 in a detailed analysis covering multiple markets, including China. The suit includes a purported Sony slide titled "impact for WPP Advertisers, China 2024," which claims roughly $110 million was passed back to clients that year while $350 million remained in a rebate pool "for later utilization" by WPP.

A separate purported slide, described in the lawsuit, called the practice a "fraud scheme" run in China and other markets and attributed its design to senior global WPP executives.

Sony's conclusions, per the lawsuit, were drawn from independent investigators who reportedly attended the Chinese criminal trial of the GroupM executives, plus interviews with former WPP and GroupM staff. The suit also claims Sony backed its findings with contractual rebate-policy language, transaction-level financial records, internal emails on rebate amounts, and internal WPP tracking documentation.

Foster's complaint alleges the practice wasn't limited to China. It claims GroupM improperly retained somewhere between roughly $1.5 billion and an unspecified larger figure through a global version of the same model, according to Business Insider.

The stakes

WPP handles tens of billions of dollars in ad spending on behalf of some of the largest companies in the world. If the core allegation is accurate, it means a company clients trust to negotiate media deals on their behalf was allegedly steering a portion of negotiated rebates into its own pocket instead of passing them back without client consent.

These are allegations in a civil complaint, filed by a plaintiff with his own retaliation claim against his former employer. Nothing here is a verdict, a regulatory finding, or an admission by WPP. Sony has not confirmed the contents of any presentation publicly. A Sony spokesperson told Business Insider the company does not comment on pending litigation.

WPP's response

WPP has pushed back hard. The company already filed a motion to dismiss Foster's original lawsuit, arguing he failed to state a legally sufficient claim and raising jurisdictional objections. WPP declined to comment specifically on the alleged Sony review.

In a statement, WPP said Foster's amended complaint, filed shortly before a scheduled court hearing, is an attempt to avoid dismissal. "Both complaints are baseless and without merit, and WPP will be re-filing an updated motion to dismiss," the company said. "We have confidence that this matter will be resolved through due legal process."

Amended complaints filed close to hearing dates are a common legal tactic, and a company facing a retaliation suit has every incentive to characterize new, more dramatic allegations as an eleventh-hour add-on rather than a genuine escalation. WPP's underlying legal argument, that Foster hasn't stated a valid claim, hasn't been ruled on yet.

What's unresolved

The case is still in early stages. No court has ruled on WPP's forthcoming renewed motion to dismiss, let alone reached the merits of whether a rebate-withholding scheme existed at the scale Foster's complaint describes. Sony's actual internal investigation materials, if they exist as described, haven't been made public independent of the lawsuit's characterization of them.

The open questions: will WPP's renewed motion to dismiss succeed, and does Sony ever confirm or deny the contents of the presentation the lawsuit attributes to it. Given the dollar figures involved, tens of billions in client ad spend running through WPP globally, any court ruling that lets this case proceed to discovery would put internal WPP rebate records in front of a judge for the first time.