James Chambers, known as Fergie, at his home in Tunisia in 2024. NurPhoto (NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The American's lawyers, led by Baltasar Garzón, denounce a "political persecution" by Trump for his support of Palestine. The government will have to decide whether to extradite him.
Originally published in El País.
July 10th. A foreign couple planning to settle in Ibiza are driving along a rural road in the north of the island. They are looking for a school for their son and are visiting one that day. He is James " Fergie " Chambers, who inherited a fortune from one of the wealthiest families in the US, the owners of the Cox Group (focused on telecommunications), which has a turnover of $20 billion a year. He is 41 years old, a pro-Palestinian activist, and has described himself as a Marxist-Leninist and revolutionary. She is Stella Schnabel , actress, producer, and daughter of the filmmaker who directed, among others, Before Night Falls , the film that earned Javier Bardem an Oscar nomination in 2001. “Suddenly,” Stella Schnabel tells EL PAÍS in a Madrid hotel, “five cars appeared: three in front and two behind. They had no police markings. Three women and three men got out. They said they were National Police officers and that they had to arrest Fergie on charges of money laundering. They took him away immediately. I was completely shocked , although with the political climate in the United States, it was something that was always on my mind.”
It is the US authorities who are seeking his extradition. The Interpol international arrest warrant, which EL PAÍS has obtained, specifies that Chambers is accused of three crimes: money laundering, rioting, and conspiracy to commit riots [which does not exist as such under Spanish law], punishable in the US by up to 30 years in prison in total. The warrant briefly mentions his alleged financial support for organizations in Gaza that may be linked to Hamas.
EL PAÍS asked Chambers, through his wife, which groups he had supported in Palestine. From prison, the activist sent the following response: “I am not Palestinian and I have no control over who they vote for. I am a human rights advocate and that is why I will always offer my moral support to people who are fighting for their lives, for the lives of their children, and for freedom. Whether it is the ANC in South Africa [ Nelson Mandela’s historic party ]; the NLF in Algeria [the party that led the country’s independence], the European forces united against Hitler in the 1940s, or any anti-colonial struggle. I will always support those people and their rights.”
According to current Spanish law, the United States, led by Donald Trump, has until approximately August 26 (40 to 45 days, depending on whether it is governed by the treaty or by its own extradition law) to send the documentation supporting its request for Spain to extradite Chambers to face trial in a US court. The activist and his family find themselves in this impasse : waiting for the formal extradition request and hoping that the Spanish authorities will conclude, upon reviewing it, that the accusation is politically motivated—one of the grounds for halting the extradition—and thus stop the proceedings.
Once the request passes the review phase at the National Court, and if it is successful, the final decision rests with the Council of Ministers, according to the extradition law. The next meeting will be on September 25. Pedro Sánchez's government will have to decide whether or not to accept the US extradition request at a time when relations with the US administration are particularly tense. The White House has openly criticized Spain for the migration crisis in Ceuta following the arrival of at least 70,000 people. Just a few days ago, Trump declared that the Spanish were "a lost cause" and that he did not want to do any trade with the country because of the delay in increasing its military spending and its refusal to allow the use of the Rota and Morón air bases in Cádiz for refueling aircraft participating in the Iran-Iraq War, although he later asserted that the government had "redeemed itself" by committing to "a substantial payment . " And the firm stance of Pedro Sánchez's government in the face of the massacre in Gaza and in championing the recognition of Palestine as a state have provoked angry reactions from Israel's main ally and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
For Chambers' wife and his lawyers, led by former Spanish National Court judge Baltasar Garzón , there is no doubt that the international arrest warrant for Chambers is due to "political persecution" by the US because of his support for the Palestinian cause and his activism against Israeli "genocide." "They can make up whatever they want. Right now in the US there's a new witch hunt. It's very frightening," Schnabel laments.
The US president has sanctioned eight judges and three prosecutors of the International Criminal Court for conducting investigations related to the US and Israel. One of those sanctioned, Ugandan appeals judge Solomy Balungi Bossa, stated in a recent interview with EL PAÍS : “For Trump, we are like terrorists or drug traffickers.” The sanctions, she added, “are an attempt at coercion” to obstruct the investigation of war crimes or crimes against humanity. Baltasar Garzón’s office frames the arrest warrant for Chambers within this context and points out that the US has also sanctioned the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese. The US State Department accuses her of “anti-Semitism” and of supporting “terrorism.” The Spanish government will have to decide, once it receives Chambers' extradition request, whether one of the world's leading democracies is committing acts of "political persecution" that prevent one of its citizens, now imprisoned in Aranjuez, from being tried with all the guarantees.
Pending the more detailed statement that must be included in the extradition request once it is submitted, according to Interpol's profile, Chambers is accused of "money laundering" related to a transfer that the US considers suspicious, totaling $7.5 million (approximately €6.5 million), to Tunisia, the country where the activist resided before deciding to move to Ibiza with his wife. "I have family in Spain," Schnabel explains. "In fact, my middle name is Madrid. My father named me after a racehorse."
Chambers' wife explains that those transfers "weren't an investment." "He gave that money to pay off debts and the salaries of the players on a football team, Club Africain, which there is the team of the working people, like Rayo Vallecano here. In Tunisia, we rented the house of a man who had been the club's president, and I became very good friends with his daughter. One day we went to see a match, and Fergie was immediately captivated by the fans' enthusiasm and their support for Palestine. The stadium was full of giant banners supporting the Palestinians. Fergie, who has always been obsessed with sports, saved the team from ruin." Chambers owns a sports representation and sponsorship company, Jii Sports.
James, Fergie, Chambers (first from the left), poses with one of the sports teams he sponsors in Africa.
One million dollars for Palestine
Chambers also donated, according to his lawyers, nearly one million dollars (approximately 865,000 euros) to “humanitarian projects and actions” in Gaza, previously reviewed by his foundation’s technical council. Specifically, they state that $550,000 went to the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), which “provides food, medicine, medical supplies, clothing, books, and toys to displaced families in Gaza and Lebanon”; another $370,000 to the Sameer Project (TSP), which funds small businesses such as bakeries; $300,000 to the People’s Health Movement (PHM), which raises funds to rebuild healthcare centers and deliver equipment and medicine to Gaza; and $200,000 to the Ghasan Abu Sittah Children’s Fund, which assists injured children. and $100,000 to Project Zaynab, which provides psychological support to victims of war.
“All of those donations,” Schnabel explains, “can be verified. Fergie sent the money that enabled the establishment of a bakery that now makes 2,000 loaves of bread a week; she helped a girl who needed dialysis; orphans....”
When asked if she could confirm that her husband had not funded Hamas in any way, she replied, “Absolutely. And it’s very painful to hear that. This was humanitarian aid, and we can prove where every donation went. I come from a Jewish family.” Her father, film director Julian Schnabel, rejected the boycott of actors Gal Gadot and Gerard Butler at the Venice Film Festival for their support of Israel.
Several international media outlets are republishing old statements by Chambers defending Hamas after the October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel that killed 1,200 people, specifically a tweet saying that “No faction of the Palestinian resistance, Hamas or others, has done anything wrong.” Schnabel made her husband's social media accounts private and claims she doesn't remember that message, but insists that the money did not go to terrorist groups.
Protest in London against the trial of a group of pro-Palestinian activists accused of links to terrorism.Alishia Abodunde (Getty Images)
Chambers' activism has led him to support Palestine Action in various ways. Founded in England in 2020, the group aims to carry out "disruptive actions," primarily targeting the facilities of Elbit Systems , a military technology company whose main client is the Israeli army. In a 2025 interview, Chambers admitted to participating in one of these actions—"I chained myself to the gate."
Last June, four members of this organization were sentenced in the UK to prison terms ranging from four to almost eight years for destroying several drones during their attack on the Israeli company. Amnesty International criticized the British justice system in a statement for introducing a “terrorist connection” into the activists' trial: “They have been convicted as terrorists because they want to set a precedent. Criminal damage offenses have never before been treated as terrorism.”
Another action by this group against the Israeli company took place in Merrimack, New Hampshire, in November 2023. While several protesters held a banner outside, others spray-painted the building and climbed onto the roof with smoke bombs. Chambers was interviewed at the scene by a local news station . Four women were arrested. The sentence was ultimately 60 days in jail and a restraining order against the company.
Schnabel explains that her husband has been “financially supporting” some of these activists, but that he cannot be considered a “coordinator” of these actions because “the group organizes itself spontaneously online.” Baltasar Garzón’s office believes that the charges of “riots” and “conspiracy to incite riots,” briefly mentioned in the arrest warrant, may be related to Chambers’s support for Palestine Action.
This isn't the first time Chambers has had run-ins with the law, though none have been as serious as this one. As Schnabel recalls, and as Chambers himself recounted in a 2024 Rolling Stone interview, shortly before leaving the United States and moving to Tunisia, he was arrested in Atlanta for participating in a protest against the clearing of an urban forest to build a police training facility, Cop City. The project was close to his heart, as the person in charge of raising the funds for its construction was his cousin, Alex Taylor, the CEO of Cox Enterprises. He was also arrested for vandalizing a McDonald's during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Washington, D.C.
Chambers has donated considerable sums to organizations such as the Black Peace Alliance and the Abolitionist Law Center. He also founded a “socialist commune” in Massachusetts. He is immensely wealthy, and his main contradiction—as pointed out by his critics—is his apparent commitment to dismantling the system that allowed people like him and families like his to accumulate such wealth. His father, James Cox Chambers, whom the activist once described as “the first black sheep of the family,” works in film and promotes renewable energy. He is also, according to Schnabel, “one of the top donors to the Democratic Party in the US.” In 2004, he married Nabila Khashoggi, daughter of Adnan Khashoggi, the arms dealer who died in 2017.
The activist traveled to Donbas in 2022 to speak about supporters of the Russian presence in the region. His first wife is Russian, and he speaks the language. Schnabel insists that many of her husband's statements "have been taken out of context." "Fergie speaks very directly and confronts the ruling elite, and the ruling elite doesn't like that. He grew up surrounded by millions of dollars, and most wealthy people are now far-right and don't understand him. But all he does is help, without any personal gain. His foundation isn't even named after him."
In Rolling Stone , Chambers explained that his mother first took him to a psychiatrist when he was six years old, and that at 12 he was hospitalized and raped by another patient. “He’s a very strong man, who has lived through a lot. Now he’s very worried,” recounts his wife, who visited him on August 4th at the Aranjuez prison. “He just wants me to bring him books: he asked for one by Gramsci, and I brought him The Aleph by Borges, something fantastical.”
Natalia Junquera is a reporter for the Spain section since 2006. She not only writes reports but also conducts interviews and provides social media commentary for her segment, "Anatomía de Twitter" (Anatomy of Twitter). A specialist in historical memory, she has written the books "Valientes" (Brave Ones) and "Vidas Robadas" (Stolen Lives), and the novel "Recuérdame por qué te quiero" (Remind Me Why I Love You). She is also the co-author of the book "Chapapote" (Oil) about the Prestige oil spill.
Elena Reina is a reporter in the National section. Previously, she worked for eight years at the newsroom of EL PAÍS Mexico, where she specialized in drug trafficking, migration, and femicides. She is the co-author of the book 'Rage: Eight Chronicles Against Cynicism in Latin America' (Anagrama, 2022) and received the Gabriel García Márquez Journalism Award for best coverage in 2020.
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