Coca-Cola has paid a former manager a total of $540,000 for him to drop fraud allegations against the company.

Matthew Whitley accused Coke of rigging a marketing test to raise the popularity of Frozen Coke at Burger King restaurants in Virginia three years ago.

Coke admitted the fraud but claimed it had dismissed Whitley "as part of a downsizing".

Coke said it was disappointed that Whitley "a diligent employee … felt he needed to file a lawsuit in order to be heard".

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