The Coca-Cola Co. has agreed to pay $540,000 to a former manager who filed a $44 million lawsuit alleging that the company tampered with a promotion that led to a criminal investigation of fraud allegations.
As part of the settlement, the employee, Matthew Whitley will receive $100,000 on top of the estimated $140,000 in severance in connection with his termination from the company earlier this year. Coca-Cola will also pay $300,000 to cover Whitley’s legal fees, according to news reports.
In return, Whitley will dismiss all complaints against Coca-Cola and its managers. He filed the lawsuit shortly after his was fired in March in what Coca-Cola termed a “restructuring.”
The allegations first appeared in a lawsuit filed May 19 by Whitley, alleging that Coca-Cola employees had rigged a test promotion of Frozen Coke at Burger King restaurants in 2000. After a three-week trial went poorly, members of Coca-Cola’s fountain division offered a man $10,000 to bring children into Burger King to order value meals featuring Frozen Coke. In June, Coca-Cola admitted to the tampering charges.
In August, Coca-Cola, Atlanta, said it would pay up to $21.1 million to Miami-based Burger King to help ease the dispute over Coca-Cola employees tampering with the promotion. It also replaced the head of its North American soda-fountain business, Tom Moore, who Whitley accused of knowing about the tampering.
The criminal investigation of Coke by federal prosecutors and an inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission continues.
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