Two Adidas employees in China have left the sportswear company after it found evidence of wrongdoing during an investigation into a whistleblower’s claims that senior staff had embezzled “millions of euros”. 

Two employees from the marketing department, including one senior executive, left Adidas after it launched a probe earlier this month into an anonymous letter that accused senior staff of receiving kickbacks from external service providers paid from its marketing budget, according to people familiar with the matter. 

Adidas said in a statement that “evidence has been found that in the interaction with local vendors, one employee violated the company’s code of conduct. Separately, a second employee failed to meet the company’s leadership expectations of demonstrating mutual respect and trust. As a result, both employees have left the company.”