Attorneys for James “Fergie” Chambers, the US citizen and wealthy donor to leftwing and humanitarian projects worldwide who is currently imprisoned in Madrid and sought in extradition, have submitted a brief ahead of a decisive government meeting on the case. Meanwhile, Chambers’ partner, the actor and activist Stella Schnabel, met last week with multiple members of the Spanish parliament to assert his innocence. The legal team’s arguments include that the US government has failed to identify specific acts of violence or damages personally attributable to Chambers and instead is seeking to criminalize acts linked to political protest.
They also assert that at least one figure of US law underpinning the request – “conspiracy to commit riot” – has no equivalent in Spanish law, which would also help render the extradition invalid. It is the first known case of the US seeking to extradite a citizen over alleged support for Hamas. Chambers’ defense has submitted its brief to the government ahead of a meeting by Spain’s council of ministers expected to take place on 22 September.
The council can decide whether or not to allow the US extradition request to proceed, based in part on an evaluation of supporting materials the Trump administration supplied to the government on 26 August. Under Spanish law, at this “administrative” stage, the 22-member council has the power to deny the request, before it reaches a “judicial” stage. The US government’s case centers on Chambers allegedly laundering $7.5m that he wired several years ago from a US bank account to Tunisia, where he lived at the time, and allegedly using the money to support the Palestinian group Hamas.
The exact details of the indictment against Chambers remain sealed. Chambers’ team say he has been supporting humanitarian aid and other projects. The 41–year-old self-described anti–imperialist’s defense is also asserting that the Trump administration’s additional charges of “international money laundering” don’t hold up because, as heir to one of the richest families in the US, he obtained his personal wealth through legal means.
Chambers’ donations have gone to about 100 projects in 20 countries for several years – including the Sameer Project, in Gaza. Sánchez forms part of the council of ministers. Schnabel has not escaped scrutiny since her partner was detained on 10 July in Ibiza.
On a recent trip to New York, the FBI pulled her aside at JFK airport and confiscated her phone, she said. Support for Chambers in the lead-up to the 20 September meeting has come from Ione Bellara, leader of Podemos, who opened the party’s quarterly meeting last Saturday with a statement opposing the extradition request, saying that Chambers was “on the right side of history” with his financial support of Palestinians in Gaza. Similarly, Sumar, the leftwing coalition that governs jointly with Sánchez’s Socialist party, filed a statement in Spain’s congress earlier this week urging the government to deny the petition, “given that the goal of the extradition request … is to criminalize, persecute or punish [Chambers] due to his political opinions, his public activity or his participation in political movements – in this case, in support of the Palestinian people”.
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