ATLANTA (AP):
A COCA-COLA executive accused in a whistleblower lawsuit of sham accounting and who oversaw the division that rigged a marketing test to fool Burger King stepped down yesterday.
Tom Moore, president of food service and hospitality at the world's largest beverage maker, will remain at the company to train his successor, Chris Lowe.
"In consideration of recent events in the food service category, he decided the best course of action would be for him to step down," Coke spokesman Dan Schafer said.
The company did not say how long Moore's transition job would last or whether he'd stay with Coke after Lowe takes over.
Moore is named in a lawsuit filed by former Coca-Cola finance manager Matthew Whitley, which accuses the company of sweeping fraud from rigging the 2000 Burger King test in Richmond, Virginia, to flimsy accounting to selling defective machines.
SCHEME
Whitley said Moore, president of Coca-Cola's Fountain Division at the time, knew about the scheme to boost test market sales of Frozen Coke, but didn't tell Burger King about it and refused to fire the executive who oversaw the test.
The suit also accuses Moore of overseeing sham transactions and improper accounting in an attempt to boost sales of a new, high-tech fountain dispenser called iFountain.
Coca-Cola has denied most of the charges but conceded that some employees improperly influenced the marketing test, which persuaded Burger King to invest $65 million in Frozen Coke.
Coca-Cola has offered Burger King restaurant operators more than $21 million in response to the test allegations and has asked a judge to dismiss Whitley's lawsuit.
Federal prosecutors have begun a criminal investigation into the allegations. The Securities and Exchange Commission has also initiated an informal probe.
