NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A former Coca-Cola Co. employee filed a lawsuit Monday alleging that the soft drink maker engaged in deceptive marketing and accounting and knowingly sold contaminated products.

The suit, filed in Fulton County, Ga., Superior Court, alleges that the employee, Matthew Whitley, lost his job on March 26 after approaching the world's largest soft drink maker about these alleged misdeeds.

"I was a target," Whitley, 37, told CNN in an interview.

Coca-Cola said in a statement that it could not fully respond to the 85-page lawsuit until an independent investigation was completed. But the Atlanta-based company said that Whitley demanded that Coca-Cola pay him about $44 million to keep quiet.

"One has to wonder what is motivating him if he is unwilling to wait for the findings of these independent investigations?" Coca-Cola said in its statement. "Maybe he is concerned that the facts will not support his allegations and will undercut his outrageous demand for $44 million."

Whitley's lawyer, Marc Garber, portrayed his client as an 11-year company veteran who notified management that Coca-Cola had a problem with its Frozen Ice Drinks because metal shavings were getting into the drinks.

The suit said Whitley also brought to management's attention a $65 million marketing fraud aimed at getting Burger King to become a Coke customer, and that a group of employees was inflating profits by falsely reporting certain Coke syrup deliveries as sales.

Coke management did not address Whitley's concerns, but instead later terminated him "by maliciously manufacturing a false and fraudulent performance review," the lawsuit said.

Coca-Cola (KO: Research, Estimates) stock edged up 16 cents to $44.11 Monday.