SUBSCRIPTION ONLY Agencies New Filings Suggest Sony Proactively Shared Internal WPP Rebate Probe in Whistleblower Case The claim could upend WPP’s previous motion to seal the documents and toss the whistleblower case brought by former exec Richard Foster Credit: Christopher Cicchiello By Christopher Cicchiello --> ADWEEK House: Advertising HQ brings the people shaping advertising, commerce, and media together for four days of unscripted conversations and after-hours connections. Meet us in Midtown, Oct. 5–8.
A batch of new court documents filed Thursday morning in the ongoing wrongful termination suit against WPP suggest that Sony voluntarily provided information to the defense regarding its own investigation into the holding company’s business practices.
On Aug. 13, the legal team for Richard Foster, the former CEO of GroupM’s Motion Entertainment, filed an amended complaint against WPP that included documents from Sony’s own investigation, which it said “corroborated Foster’s years of whistleblower reports.”
The amendment was to Foster’s initial lawsuit, filed in October 2025, which alleged WPP had retaliated against and ultimately fired the exec for trying to expose what he perceived was a global illegal rebate scheme .
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Christopher Cicchiello is ADWEEK's agencies reporter. Previously, he was on the breaking news assignment desk at NBC News in Washington D.C., where he earned an Emmy nomination for his 2024 election coverage. His byline has appeared in NBC News, TODAY, Quincy News, The Times Union, and The Daily Orange.
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