Reportedly, James “Fergie” Chambers was arrested in Spain on July 10 at the request of the US Department of Justice. He is awaiting extradition and facing an indictment alleging that, “after leaving the United States in 2023, he transferred approximately $7.5 million out of the country in order to…provide material support to Hamas” (emphasis added).

About Fergie Chambers

Chambers is an heir to a wealthy American family fortune, Cox Enterprises. In July 2023, Chambers announced that he “fully detach[ed] from the company” because he “believe[s] strongly that [his] primary material purpose on earth is to extract as much capital from that entity as possible, in order to build socialist infrastructure/institutions in the 21st century, on the domestic & [international] level.”

Chambers, a self-described “Marxist-Leninist,” has an extensive public record of making his violent, extreme views known explicitly:

  • On February 28, 2026, Chambers posted a photo of the Iranian flag with the caption, “Let Yankee blood stain the seas the world over[.] Victory to the resistance everywhere[.] Death to Amerikkka[.]” (on file with NGO Monitor)
  • On January 10, 2026, Chambers stated, “We support Hamas here.”
  • On September 17, 2025, Chambers wrote, “I really can’t even imagine how people exist in countries with Zionists walking around freely without catching a dozen assault charges per day.”
  • An October 28, 2023 article by Los Angeles Magazine quotes Chambers as stating, “I chant death to America every day.”

The Babochki Collective

In July 2023, when Chambers announced his split from his family’s enterprise, he stated that he “will be ‘worth’ multiple hundreds of millions of dollars, and… will continue to have a considerable income for the decade or so to come.” Chambers created the Babochki Collective to manage these funds and make decisions regarding grant distributions.

On November 9, 2023, Chambers posted a photo to X of Babochki’s members, including:

In March 2026, a People’s Congress in the Netherlands held by Progressive International identified Shabbir Rizvi as a member of Babochki. 

Rizvi is a frequent contributor to PressTV, an entity designated by US Treasury in September 2023 “for being owned or controlled by… the IRIB [Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting].” Rizvi also serves as a political analyst for al-Mayadeen, a network barred from Israel in November 2023 for being an “abettor of the terrorist organization Hezbollah.”

The bio of Rizvi’s Instagram account – which is rife with content in support of US-designated terrorist organizations – links to @voxummahmedia and @sovereign_media (screenshot on file with NGO Monitor). On March 28, 2025, Chambers claimed to have “played a small part in creating” VoxUmmah Media (linked content since made private), which identifies Rizvi as its Political Director. VoxUmmah Media launched its website and X content on March 27/28, 2025, to coincide with al-Quds Day.

Rizvi moved from Chicago – where he taught “Death to America” chants in Persian to far-left activists – to South Africa in October 2025. In March-April 2026, he visited Iran and in February 2024 he visited Iraq.

NGO Funding

Babochki has publicly acknowledged grants to various NGOs, including:

  • On October 9, 2023, Chambers tweeted, “The [Samidoun] network is the only [international] org[anization] supporting [Palestinian] political prisoners. We made a grant to them in September, and will continue to support their amazingly consistent, unapologetic advocacy for the Resistance.” Samidoun was designated as a terrorist entity by Canada and the US in October 2024. The US Treasury designation refers to Samidoun as “a sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization.”
  • In February 2026, Babochki announced a grant of $300,000 to the People’s Health Movement (PHM), an NGO led by Aziz Rhali. Rhali glorifies terror and was the “friend and comrade” of Samir Kuntar, who murdered five Israelis, including two children, in 1979. Rhali is also currently a vice president of the major France-based human rights NGO International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH).
  • Between October 2023 and February 2026, Babochki granted over $700,000 to the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), an NGO with documented ties to multiple PFLP-linked organizations.
  • Also in February 2026, Babochki announced a $300,000 grant to The Sameer Project (TSP), which the organization replied to by stating that it has “been rejected over and over for institutional funding due to [its] clear stance and aim in the liberation of Palestine.”
    • The Sameer Project’s “fiscal host” is the UK-based Social Change Nest (SCN). According to TSP’s fundraising page on the JustGiving platform, it receives gift aid (UK government subsidy) through its collaboration with the Small Steps Project. 
    • On April 2, 2026, TSP posted, “God bless the resistance” in response to an image of the Palestinian and Iranian flags with the logo of Hamas’ military wing. On March 3, 2025, TSP co-founder Hala Sabbah tweeted, “Armed resistance… will liberate us.” On April 4, 2025, she posted, “Direct action is the only solution. Join @Pal_action…”
    • TSP operates a school in Gaza. On April 19, 2026, TSP posted about activities the school organized for “Palestinian Prisoner’s Day” (PPD), which included honoring Karim Younes, convicted in 1983 of kidnapping and killing Israeli soldier Avraham Bromberg. Also in April 2026, TSP facilitated a PPD event in which a participant  “stood in solidarity with Samir Kuntar [see above], Sultan al-Ajlouni, and Karim Younis [see above]… all our brave prisoners, all respect to them” (emphasis added). In 1990, al-Ajlouni was one of four Jordanians who killed two IDF soldiers.
  • On October 9, 2023, Chambers tweeted, “An outlet I’ve also supported for over a decade is @Mondoweiss, one of the only western outlets documenting the resistance; their Pali staff need emergency housing & support[.] Babochki made 2 grants to them since our inception this summer, 20k yesterday.”

In addition to funding through the Babochki Collective, Chambers has claimed to have funded other groups personally:

  • On December 6, 2025, Chambers posted, “I’ve committed 6 figures to the flotilla,” likely referring to the Global Sumud Flotilla. According to the US Treasury Department on January 21, 2026, the “Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA) is a main organizer of recent flotillas… The PCPA is also clandestinely acting on behalf of Hamas.”
  • On December 20, 2025, Chambers claimed that “big bail or lawyer money is something I’ve done for Cop City, for Pal[estine] Action Uk, at standing rock, during Ferguson/Floyd. for hundreds of [people], for years, primarily around the US.”
  • On November 23, 2025, Chambers tweeted that in “2006… [he] gave to SJP [Students for Justice in Palestine for] the first time.”
  • On November 25, 2025, Chambers tweeted that he “gave 600k to the peoples forum in 2023, and [] paid for PSL’s Nov 4 2023 March on DC, alone, including extra buses for DSA to get there.” He added that he “gave 100k directly to ANSWER [Coalition] for buses, and 600k to TPF [the People’s Forum] the week [before.]” (linked content since made private)
  • On November 25, 2024, Chambers referenced his financial support to “MECA, Al-Awda, WOL [Within Our Lifetime], SJP, Dr. Abu Sittah, Mondoweiss, and others.”

Chambers has also stated that he has funded “projects in Tunisia, Michigan, Russia and Venezuela” and that he has spent “a lifetime in various levels of direct action.”