Sony told WPP it ran a 'global crime scheme,' suit says

A new filing in Richard Foster's lawsuit against WPP alleges that Sony, one of the ad group's major clients, investigated its media operations and concluded WPP improperly withheld rebates from advertisers. Sony presented the findings to WPP in 2025 in an analysis that described the practice as a "global crime scheme" across several markets, including China, the filing says.

The lawsuit includes a purported slide from Sony's presentation titled "Impact for WPP Advertisers, China 2024," which claims about $110 million was passed back to clients that year while $350 million stayed in the rebate pool "for later utilization" by WPP. A second slide described the operation as a "fraud scheme" run in China and other markets, and attributed its design to senior global WPP executives, according to the filing.

Sony based its findings on the work of independent investigators who attended a criminal trial in China involving WPP executives, plus interviews with former WPP and GroupM executives, the lawsuit says. Sony supported the conclusions with "contractual language regarding rebate policies, transaction-level financial reporting, internal emails regarding rebate amounts, and documentation of WPP tracking systems," the filing says. A Sony spokesperson said the company does not comment on pending litigation.

Foster filed the suit in November. A former longtime GroupM executive, he accuses WPP of retaliating against him and firing him after he raised concerns that the group's media investment division ran an improper global kickback operation. GroupM was rebranded as WPP Media last year.

The amended complaint says Sony's findings corroborated "years of whistleblowing" by Foster, who is seeking at least $100 million in damages from WPP. The filing also says Foster refused a "seven-figure termination package which included an obligation of silence regarding the company's undisclosed rebate practices." Foster alleges the practice was not confined to China. He estimates the global model allowed GroupM to improperly retain roughly $1.5 billion to $2 billion in profits from rebate deals over five years.

WPP filed a motion to dismiss, arguing Foster failed to state a legally sufficient claim and objecting on jurisdictional grounds. The company declined to comment on the alleged Sony review and said the amended complaint, filed days before an upcoming court hearing, was an attempt to avoid dismissal.

The lawsuit is ongoing. WPP handles tens of billions of dollars in ad spending for some of the world's largest companies. The core allegation is that WPP put its own interests ahead of its clients, using part of their advertising budgets to maximize its own profits without their consent.

Media rebates are not inherently illegal. They can raise transparency and accounting issues when advertisers are not told about them, and a U.S. ad industry trade group previously warned that rebates could amount to breach of contract or fraud if not disclosed to the client or if advertisers were deceived about the practice. Some markets, including China, rely heavily on rebates and the brokers who arrange them.

The dispute also sits inside a long-running industry argument over "principal media," sometimes called "proprietary media." In that model, an agency buys a large volume of media at a discount and resells it to clients. The margin on the resale is the agency's profit.

Agencies argue the approach is often more cost-effective for clients than buying inventory themselves, and that marketing chiefs are happy with it when it performs well. Critics say the agency has an incentive to push marketers toward media it already bought, even when that is not what the campaign needs. Madison and Wall, an advisory and consulting firm, recently estimated that principal media accounts for a "high single-digit or low double-digit" share of large-brand and agency activity in the U.S.

Foster's lawyer puts the question directly. "Richard Foster asked a question any agency should be prepared to answer: Are your profits derived from loyal service to your clients, or not?" William A. Brewer III, partner at Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors and lead counsel to Foster, said in a statement.

WPP's China media operations have already faced legal scrutiny. Di Fei, former GroupM China chief investment officer, was sentenced to life in prison earlier this year for taking bribes totaling $176 million with ex-colleagues, Bloomberg reported. WPP said it is aware of the court's sentencing of its former employees and has cooperated fully with the relevant authorities. Di Fei is appealing the ruling, Bloomberg reported in June.