US heir James Cox Chambers Jr. detained in Ibiza, wanted by United States over suspected money laundering and Hamas support
The National Police detained James Cox "Fergie" Chambers Jr. on Friday in Ibiza, heir to the Cox Communications empire, in response to an international arrest warrant issued by the United States.
US heir James Cox Chambers Jr. detained in Ibiza, wanted by United States over suspected money laundering and Hamas support
The National Police detained James Cox "Fergie" Chambers Jr. on Friday in Ibiza, heir to the American Cox Communications empire, following an international arrest order requested by the United States. According to Majorca Daily Bulletin, the Department of Justice and the FBI are investigating Chambers for alleged money laundering offences and providing material support to Hamas.
The arrest occurred in the context of a federal investigation that links Chambers to years of financing for pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli and anti-Western organisations and protests. Police sources confirmed that the detention followed the international order activated against the billionaire, who was residing and conducting business activities and sports sponsorship activities in Tunisia.
Various Spanish political parties have sent a letter to the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with Parliament, Félix Bolaños, calling on the Government not to execute the extradition. The signatories warn that solidarity with Palestine, in a context of occupation and apartheid, cannot be criminalised or presented as terrorism.
Chambers's family issued a statement describing the extradition request as part of a strategy of repression by the Trump administration against the movement of international solidarity with Palestine. According to his relatives, Chambers faces several federal charges that could carry up to 30 years in prison, the most serious relating to alleged financing of Palestinian resistance groups. The family contends that these charges stem solely from fund transfers that Chambers made from the United States to Tunisia, where he lived, and that he has donated more than one million pounds sterling to humanitarian projects in Gaza.
Stella Schnabel, Chambers's wife, stated that her husband is being imprisoned "because he uses his wealth to support Palestine and those suffering genocide in Gaza". His relatives have called on legal experts, political figures and pro-Palestinian organisations to mobilise on 16 July 2026, coinciding with the judicial review of the case, against the extradition and against the precedent that, they argue, it would set for the entire solidarity movement.
So far, Spanish authorities have not revealed the specific offences that support the extradition request, nor has the United States Department of Justice made the charges against Chambers public.
Source: Majorca Daily Bulletin