A legal expert told Newsweek on Monday that convicted Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell's victims will likely not get compensation from a tell-all book she is writing to supposedly set the record straight about her relationship with Epstein.

Kate Mangels, a partner at the Kinsella, Holley, Iser, Kump, Steinsapir firm in Los Angeles, told the outlet that under current law, Maxwell is entitled to profits from any books, documentaries, podcasts, or other content she is able to sell the rights to.

The New York Post reported last week that Maxwell is writing a memoir from prison, where she is serving out a 20-year sentence for helping Epstein traffic young girls to his private compound where he sexually abused them or offered them to his wealthy associates for the purposes of blackmail.

Epstein was arrested in 2019 but died in prison before he could stand trial.

Unsuccessful attempts

Mangels pointed out that while legislatures have tried to limit convicted criminals' rights to profit from their crimes, most of the laws passed have been declared unconstitutional.

"In the 1970s, following the Son of Sam killings in New York City, the New York legislature passed a law known as the Son of Sam Law to restrict a convicted criminal's ability to profit off of selling their story. But this law, and similar laws in other states, has been found to be in violation of free speech rights under the First Amendment," she said.

The most some states have been able to do is notify victims when their perpetrator has a book or other media deal that could be profitable, but even then the victims are required to go through a lengthy legal process to get access to any of the profits.

"There are some state laws setting forth rules related to notifying victims about potential compensation, but they do not entirely restrict a convicted person from profiting. So Maxwell can legally benefit financially from telling or selling her story," she said.

Not doing it for the money

As far as Maxwell's forthcoming tell-all, she's apparently not even doing it for the money.

A source close to her  told the Daily Mail that Maxwell “really thinks she hasn’t done anything wrong and that her charges will be dropped when people read” her story.

The source did not appear to believe Maxwell's insistence on her innocence.

“Max says the documents in the news are all false or misinformation. The truth will only come out when her book does,” the source claimed.

“She’s bragging about how great it will be but it sounds like the same old lies she has told a thousand times,” the source added.

But undoubtedly, people who find the story salacious will flock to buy her book and she will make money from it anyway, even if that's not her main reasoning.