WPP has hired two law firms to find the source of the anonymous emails that were sent to current and former employees after Sir Martin Sorrell’s (pictured) resignation
Advertising giant WPP has brought in top lawyers to find the person who sent emails to employees that included private Whatsapp messages from inside the company.
WPP has hired two law firms to find the source of the anonymous emails that were sent to current and former employees following Sir Martin Sorrell’s resignation in April.
The emails, sent using encrypted Swiss email service Proton, include screenshots of Whatsapp threads dated before Sorrell’s shock departure.
They were sent by senior figures at the firm and discuss Sorrell’s travel expenses, City AM reports.
Law firms Slaughter and May and Millbank have been brought in to get to the bottom of the scandal.
A WPP spokesman said in a statement: ‘WPP confirms that one former and two current employees have received a total of six emails between them from an anonymous source hiding behind a ProtonMail account based in Switzerland.
‘WPP has passed these emails to external legal counsel who are providing advice for the benefit of WPP and the three recipients.
‘WPP is aware of the original source of the subject matter of the emails, which is a former employee’s mobile device used for work and handed in when the employee left the group.’
The emails come after former chief executive Sorrell’s resignation earlier this year.
He was then accused by two WPP employees of visiting a Mayfair brothel – after he ‘strenuously’ denied claims he used company cash to pay for a prostitute.
The colleagues were having a drink on June 7 2017 when they claim they saw the advertising mogul entering 50a Shepherd Market – a den of iniquity in one of London’s remaining red light districts.
The emails, sent using encrypted Swiss email service Proton, include screenshots of Whatsapp threads dated before Sorrell’s (pictured) shock departure
The friends, who haven’t been named, are also said to have taken a photo of the building and this would later be used during the WPP misconduct probe, the Financial Times reported earlier this month.
Sorrell left WPP, the company he founded more than 30 years ago, in April following allegations of personal misconduct.
WPP carried out an inquiry into allegations that he misused company funds, but the details of the investigation were never disclosed.
Earlier this month it was alleged in the Wall Street Journal that the probe looked into whether he used company cash to pay between £250 and £350 for a sex worker.
The colleagues who claim they saw Sir Martin on Shepherd Market stayed quiet until the millionaire’s long-serving chauffeur was sacked suddenly in October – and then one went to bosses with the alleged brothel sighting.
The advertising guru has denied claims he paid for a prostitute with company cash while at the helm of WPP.