American millionaire communist suspected of financing Hamas
The Spanish government is deciding whether to forward to the court a US request for the extradition of American millionaire James Chambers, suspected of laundering $7.5 million to finance Hamas. Chambers, the great-grandson of the founder of Cox Enterprises, became a Marxist-Leninist and openly supports Palestinians. His defense insists the case is politically motivated.
The Spanish government is set to decide on Tuesday, September 22, whether to forward to the court the Trump administration's request for the extradition of American millionaire James "Fergie" Chambers. Chambers, arrested on July 10 in Ibiza, is suspected of laundering $7.5 million to finance Hamas. If extradited to the US, he faces up to 30 years in prison. Chambers is the great-grandson of the founder of the Cox Enterprises media empire, but in adulthood became a Marxist-Leninist, got tattoos of Stalin and Mao, and called Putin "one of the best statesmen of the century." He openly supports Palestinians: after the October 7 massacre, he wrote that "no faction of the Palestinian resistance has done anything wrong" and stated that "Israel has no right to exist." His defense claims the $7.5 million was directed to a Tunisian football club, not Hamas. Chambers' wife, Jewish Stella Schnabel, calls her husband a "devoted philanthropist." In Spain, a support front of 150 artists and politicians has formed around him, including Richard Gere and Greta Thunberg. The decision of the Spanish ministers will be the first step in determining his fate.