U.S. Citizen Arrested in Spain on Extradition Request for Alleged Hamas Support

Spanish authorities arrested 41-year-old U.S. citizen James “Fergie” Chambers last Friday in Ibiza on a U.S. extradition request for alleged financial support of Hamas, The Guardian reported. Officers stopped the car in which Chambers and his wife Stella Schnabel were traveling on a dirt road and handcuffed him within five minutes.

Chambers has been transferred to a prison in Madrid. The Spanish high court has two weeks to rule on his bail appeal and 40 days to decide the extradition request. If the court grants extradition, Spain’s council of ministers makes the final decision; if it denies the request, the case ends.

The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking extradition under a sealed indictment, The Guardian reported. This marks the first known case of the United States requesting extradition of one of its citizens over alleged Hamas support, according to attorney Stanley Cohen.

Schnabel spoke with Chambers for several minutes on Thursday. ” The couple had been vacationing in Ibiza with their five-year-old son and other family members when the arrest occurred. Chambers also has three teenage children from a prior relationship.

Schnabel said Chambers sold stock worth about $250 million to his family in mid-2023 and has since funded roughly 100 projects in 20 countries. These include a $250,000 donation to the Sameer Project for a Gaza bakery, support for a free medical clinic in Gaza, and a $100,000 grant to the Zaynab Project for mental-health services to orphaned children. The U.S.

Government accuses Chambers of laundering $7.5 million wired years ago from a U.S. bank account to Tunisia, The Guardian reported. Schnabel stated the funds purchased Club Africain football club, paid debts and salaries, rebuilt a training center, and built youth fields; the club won the Tunisian league in May.