FBI seeks extradition of wealthy US donor over alleged Hamas support

In mid-July, federal agents arrested James Chambers at his vacation rental in Ibiza. The 41-year-old American heir to the Cox Communications fortune now sits in a Spanish jail, facing extradition charges that his lawyer calls unprecedented and politically motivated. The Trump administration accuses him of laundering $7.5 million to support Hamas—the first known case of the US seeking to extradite one of its own citizens on such grounds.

Chambers comes from one of America's wealthiest families. In 2023, he sold stock back to his relatives worth roughly $250 million as part of a settlement that severed his ties to the family business. Since then, he has funded an estimated 100 projects across 20 countries. His partner, the actor and activist Stella Schnabel, says the money at the center of the federal charges actually went toward purchasing Club Africain, a Tunisian football club, and toward rebuilding its training facilities and youth programs. The club won the Tunisian league championship in May.

Baltasar Garzón, one of Europe's most celebrated human rights lawyers, now represents Chambers. Garzón spent five decades pursuing accountability for atrocities in Chile, Argentina, and Spain. He told the Guardian the case against his client is "very strange, one of the most remarkable I've worked on." The indictment, he said, is "pretty weak and diffuse." According to the charges, Chambers wired the money from a US bank account to Tunisia several years ago, allegedly to support the Palestinian group. The full details remain sealed.

Garzón argues the prosecution is rooted in politics, not evidence. Chambers is a self-described communist and anti-imperialist who has been vocal about his views. A week after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, he posted on social media that Israel's response amounted to genocide. He has also stated publicly that he believes the destruction of the United States is necessary for human prosperity. In late 2023, he was interviewed on local television about funding legal fees for Palestine Action, a group the UK has designated as a terrorist organization, which staged direct action against an Israeli defense contractor. "There's a political context to all this," Garzón said. "He is a person who is not aligned with the views of the US government."

The legal timeline now hinges on a Wednesday deadline. US authorities have 45 days from Chambers's arrest to submit documentation supporting the extradition petition and the underlying indictment. If they miss that window, the petition expires and Chambers must be released. If they meet it, the Spanish government will evaluate the paperwork over several weeks, then the case moves through various legal and government bodies. A key question throughout: whether the petition is politically motivated. Spanish law allows the government to deny extradition on those grounds.

Meanwhile, Chambers remains detained. Spain has rejected multiple bail requests. During Garzón's two-hour visit with his client in late August—now two months into his detention—Chambers expressed bewilderment at his imprisonment. "His freedom is being denied," Garzón said. "It's incomprehensible to him as a defender of human rights."

The human cost extends beyond one man's cell. Chambers had been funding the Sameer Project in Gaza, a three-year-old operation that runs a bakery producing thousands of loaves of free bread daily during Israel's ongoing siege, and also supplies food, water, and medical care. In August, the project announced a pause in operations. "Tens of thousands of Palestinians will feel the effects," the announcement read. The funds that once flowed to these efforts have at least temporarily stopped. Garzón said the road ahead for Chambers could stretch for months. What happens next depends on whether the US can make its case stick—and whether Spain believes the case is about law or about silencing a critic.