'It's not true:' Toppled ad king Martin Sorrell gave a defiant response to claims he bullied staff and used company cash for prostitution

Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images

• Sir Martin Sorrell has repeated denials that he misused WPP funds, and that he visited a prostitute.
• The allegations were made in a major investigation by the Financial Times.
• Sorrell said repeatedly that the claims are "not true" in an on-stage appearance at the Cannes Lions advertising festival.

Martin Sorrell has again refuted allegations that he bullied his staff, misused company cash, and visited a prostitute in Mayfair, claims which caused him to resign as CEO of WPP earlier this year.

Speaking to journalist Ken Auletta at the Cannes Lion advertising festival event, which was attended by Business Insider, the 73-year-old denied that he had misused company funds.

Here's the exchange:

Auletta: Let me bring up, if I may, the second that was the basic accusation made, that you used a not significant amount of corporate funds, relying on petty cash rather than credit cards for inappropriate spending.

Sorrell: That's been dealt with too, specifically - it was strenuously denied.

Auletta: So why, why not speak to that, they made some pretty dramatic - the FT and the Wall Street Journal both said that you were engaged with a prostitute.

Sorrell: And we dealt with that, by strenuously denying it.

Auletta: So it's not true?

Sorrell: It's not true.

Sorrell also strenuously denied bullying people who worked for WPP, though he did accept that he is a "demanding" person to work for.

The allegations were among several levied against him in a major investigation by the Financial Times, which he also denied at the time.