Di Fei handed life sentence in $176 million GroupM China ad bribery scandal

A former senior executive at WPP’s media-buying arm in China has been sentenced to life imprisonment in a major bribery case involving approximately 1.2 billion yuan ($176 million), underscoring heightened regulatory scrutiny of the country’s advertising ecosystem. The ruling was reported by Bloomberg. Di Fei, who served as chief investment officer at GroupM China, was convicted in March by a Chinese court for accepting kickbacks from broker firms in exchange for directing advertising placement business linked to WPP clients. The case forms one of the largest private-sector corruption matters reported in China’s advertising and media-buying industry. According to details cited by Bloomberg, the scheme revolved around intermediary broker firms that handled media buying for advertisers. These brokers aggregated client budgets to negotiate bulk rebates from media owners, a common industry practice. However, investigators found that portions of these rebates were retained as undisclosed income rather than being fully passed back to clients, with funds allegedly channelled through accounts linked to the accused. The court also sentenced two of Di’s former colleagues. Yao Lan received a prison term of 14.5 years, while Hong Xin was sentenced to four years. The three individuals were responsible for managing subcontractor and broker relationships within GroupM China and were alleged to have overseen financial arrangements connected to the transactions between 2019 and 2023. Legal proceedings in the case have not been fully disclosed publicly, but people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Di has filed an appeal against the verdict. His defence team has argued that the funds represented commercial rebates handled on behalf of the company and should be classified as misappropriation rather than bribery. The appeal outcome is expected later in 2026 or early 2027. WPP has stated that it is not a party to the legal proceedings but confirmed that it cooperated fully with Chinese authorities during the investigation and respects the judicial process. The company had earlier taken action when the case first surfaced in 2023, including dismissing an executive and reshuffling its leadership in China. At the time, reports indicated that several senior figures were detained or questioned as part of the probe, including GroupM China CEO and WPP China country manager Patrick Xu. The case has drawn attention to longstanding industry practices around rebates, intermediary broker arrangements and transparency in media buying. Authorities examined how funds moved through the system and how responsibilities were handled by executives overseeing subcontractor relationships. The developments are part of a broader pattern of regulatory enforcement in China targeting corruption and financial misconduct across industries, including advertising and media.