Chelsea Clinton Sued For Allegedly Stealing Writer’s Work To Pen Top-Selling Kids’ Book

Chelsea Clinton’s best-selling children’s book She Persisted is allegedly not her own work. This is what an Upstate New York writer claims, who has filed a lawsuit looking for monetary damages. Christopher James Kimberley has filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York court, suing both Chelsea Clinton and Penguin House Publishers for copyright infringement. Kimberly is looking for up to $150,000 in this lawsuit.

The author, who hails from Albany, New York, said he was “in disbelief,” according to the New York Post.

“I did months of painstaking research on my book. Her version looks like a ninth-grade homework assignment,” he said while accusing Chelsea of ripping off his work.

While Kimberley is a little-known author, he claims that back in 2013, he sent his pitch for a children’s book titled A Heart is the Part That Makes Boys And Girls Smart to the president of the children’s division of the publishing house, Jennifer Loja. She is the head of Penguin Young Readers division of the publishing house. He claims that instead of publishing his book, Loja handed the idea off to Chelsea Clinton, who ran with it.

Kimberley claims that Chelsea cashed in on all his hard work. The book, She Persisted, which was published at the end of May, does use at least three of the same quotes that Kimberley used in his book, according to the Post. The quotes come from three popular women in history, Nellie Bly, Harriet Tubman, and Hellen Keller.

Breitbart News reports that this author claims he wrote his book based on 15 quotes and stories from prominent women in history. In comparison, Clinton’s book is also derived from 13 women who have notable names in history, using their quotes and stories to create her book. Clinton used three of the same people mentioned in Kimberley’s book.

The writer claims that Chelsea used similar images in her book as well. The lawsuit states that Chelsea has created an “unauthorized reproduction of [Kimberley’s] work.” Her book spotlights “13 American Women Who Changed the World,” and this was done using the research and work that is found in Kimberley’s book, according to the court papers filed. He also writes in the court papers that “the appearance of impropriety is striking.”

According to Newsmax, the same writer filed a “cease and desist order” to stop Clinton from publishing her book back in April, a month before it hit the stores. It not only hit the stores, but Chelsea’s book is now a New York Times bestseller. Neither the publishing house nor Chelsea Clinton has commented on the lawsuit, reports the New York Post.

[Featured Image by Andrew Patron/MediaPunch/AP Images]