The former CEO of the company that produced “Love Island” is suing the advertising agency for $100 million

The former CEO of WPP’s Motion Content Group — the producer behind “Love Is Blind” and other reality TV shows — is suing the ad agency, saying he was fired after he flagged improper billing practices.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in New York State Supreme Court, Richard Foster said he was fired after he repeatedly warned senior executives about alleged “kickback practices” involving the company’s “discount-driven deals” that he said were “unsustainable, illegal and a significant threat to the company.”

Foster, a 17-year veteran, headed WPP’s media division, which is the producer and co-financier of “Love Island” and about 2,500 other TV shows. The division was named Group M Motion Entertainment in North America in 2023.

Foster’s lawsuit alleges that Group M used media companies to take advantage of “client budgets to secure inventory deals” that included cash rebates, inventory discounts and other financial incentives, and that these transactions were not always transparent or disclosed to clients.

Over the past five years, the lawsuit says, the company has “created discount-based deals valued between $3. [billion] and $4 billion, of which it was incorrectly kept at approximately $1.5 billion [billion] Up to two billion dollars.

But instead of confronting Maslow, Foster claims the executive “fired him, and ultimately fired him and his team to cover up his wrongdoing.”

WPP denied the claims.

“The company is aware of a lawsuit in New York state court filed by a former employee who was let go in a recent organizational restructuring,” a WPP spokesperson said in a statement. “The court has yet to rule on the allegations and we will vigorously defend them.”

In December, Foster issued a 35-page internal report that emphasized that there were opportunities to create a new entertainment division, but warned that using it at a discount could pose “potential legal and reputational” risks to the company.

At one point, Foster alleged that he told an executive that “WPP and GroupM are sleeping on the edge of a cliff and people don’t want to hear it.”

In January, Foster said he was asked to discuss the report with Group M Global CEO Brian Lesser, who “expressed concern about the legal risks associated with Group M’s business and said he would investigate further.” A few days later, Foster claimed he received a text from Laser asking him to send a “redacted version of the report” and to “remove any criticism. [GroupM Trading] Because it’s not in the spirit of working together.”

Finally, Foster said he was finished on July 10. He is seeking $100 million in damages.

“Richard Foster has devoted nearly two decades to helping build one of the world’s most successful media and entertainment development operations,” his attorney, William A. Brewer III, a partner at Brewer, Attorneys & Consultants, said in a statement. “When he stood up for transparency and accountability at WPP, he was let go. This case will shine a light on the systemic abuse and retaliation faced by CEOs who refused to walk the talk.”