Dragon*Con has released an official response to the ongoing complaints that the convention is receiving in regard to the business relationship it has with Edward Kramer, one of the convention’s founders.Kramer, who has been accused of sexual abuse of minors, resigned from the convention in 2000, around the time that the first charges were made, but remains a stockholder. Fans and some in the industry press have claimed that attending and supporting the convention is tantamount to supporting Kramer’s legal defense, since as a shareholder he stands to benefit from Dragon*Con’s success.”There has been a great deal of discussion as of late in the community regarding our continued financial connection to Edward Kramer,” Dragon*Con said in a statement. “Please know that we are as troubled by this circumstance as anyone else, but please also know that there is no simple, legal, solution to this matter…if there were, it would have been resolved long ago.”They continued, “Since Edward Kramer’s arrest in 2000, we have made multiple attempts to sever all ties between Edward Kramer and Dragon*Con including several efforts to buy Edward Kramer’s stock shares. Unfortunately, Edward Kramer’s response to our buyout efforts was repeated litigation against Dragon*Con…thus our buyout efforts have been stalled. The idea proposed of dissolving the company and reincorporating has been thoroughly investigated and is not possible at this point. Legally, we can’t just take away his shares. We are unfortunately limited in our options and responses as we remain in active litigation.”They continue by saying that much of the information currently circulating about the relationship between Kramer and Dragon*Con is false.”We do hope that everyone understands that due to past, present, and possible future lawsuits we find ourselves unable to comment further on any matters concerning Edward Kramer,” said the statement. “Please do not construe any future silence on the matter as a lack of concern on the part of the Dragon*Con staff and more specifically, our board of directors.”The charges made against Kramer in 2000 have gone unanswered for more than a decade after a series of delays to the trial. Prosecutors allege that Kramer and his lawyers are colluding to delay the process, while Kramer and his lawyers claim that he has health problems that would preclude him from attending a lengthy trial. In 2011, Kramer was arrested a second time in Connecticut after police found him in a motel room, unsupervised, with a 14-year-old boy. He was extradited back to Georgia last month to stand trial for the original charges.
