Dreim Also Under Investigation

-Marina del Rey, Ca.
-On the heels of a double-firing of two newcomer Feast Fest chefs for bribery of scouters Monday, FF Executive Asst. Arthur Ayeiy announced Tuesday that a Feast Fest fixture, Stephen Dreim, is also under investigation for possible bribery.

Dutch Newcomers Anah de Vri and Peter di Vris bribed four to seven scouters (the exact number has not yet been determined) to have their salaries for FF 2012 on Nov. 22 upped from $531,000 to a maximum of $1,000,000. Scouters announced the raise Aug. 27.

Dreim entered into the suspicions when it was unveiled that his payment for the coming Feast Fest had been elevated from $581,250 to $634,125 on Aug. 28, one day later.

"Dreim's salary was raised $52,875, which is not an unheard of amount for a raise," said Ayeiy. "It is above the average raise amount, which is between $15,000 and $30,000, but it is not unheard of to have a $50,000 raise. Rather, our suspicions stem from the relative infrequency of such large raises, along with the proximity datewise of the raise to those of de Vri and di Vris', and the fact that we were not notified of the raise until the Scouting Department announced it to the public."

Feast Fest's executive hierarchy is supposed to be notified of all salary changes or raises before the scouters announce it to the public, though on occasion clerical or other errors can lead to anomalies in this system. Whereas the absence of a pre-notice for Dreim's raise was reasoned as due to a "clerical error," no reasons were ever given for the substantially larger raises of de Vri and di Vris.

"We are not implicating Mr. Dreim as someone who collaborated with de Vri and di Vris in this bribery," Ayeiy said early Tuesday. "But a variety of factors force us to open an investigation to ensure the total legitimacy of Dreim's salary and the actions that led to its raise. We wholeheartedly believe that Dreim is not involved in di Vris and de Vri's insubordination."

Dreim filed a statement Tuesday, saying, "I am shocked today to hear of the bribery accusations against me. The actions leading up to and culminating in my raise were totally legitimate, and I believe it is wholly unfair that I should be accused and grouped in with these contemptuous scammers [de Vri and di Vris] simply because my raise came one day after theirs. I did not even know of their raises on the date of my transaction."

Dreim, a popular chef and Feast Fest fixture, is considered "unlikely" to have committed the acts. "If he conspired with di Vris and de Vri, I will be totally shocked," said Head Sous-Chef Lynn Avi, a friend of Dreim's.

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