Fergie Chambers

James Cox "Fergie" Chambers Jr. (born ) Is an American communist political activist and former heir to the Cox family, which derives its wealth from Cox Enterprises. Chambers owned a portion of Cox Enterprises until separating from the company in 2023, resulting in a payout estimated by Rolling Stone of at least $250 million. As of mid-July 2026, Chambers remained in custody in Spain pending the outcome of extradition proceedings. He is the great-grandson of James M. Cox, a Governor of Ohio and the Democratic Party's presidential nominee in 1920. Chambers recalls turning toward drugs and being depressed and suicidal as an adolescent, spending nearly three years in hospitals and rehabs, which radicalized him, as he "ended up [...] coming up against the discipline of the ruling class in that way.

Career and activism Chambers has described himself as a communist and has provided funding for leftist causes, including through paying legal fees for others. Chambers began funding left-wing causes in the early 2000s and later founded the Babochki Collective, a grantmaking initiative. Members of the Babochki Collective (Babochki is Russian for "Butterfly") served as his ideological advisers, including Calla Walsh and Paige Belanger of the direct-action network Unity of Fields. After learning in 2023 that Cox Enterprises had invested $10 million in the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, he chose to divest from the company. Around this time, Chambers described his relatives as "enemies of the people" and the "Cox Klux Klan". As a project of the Berkshire Communists, he bought at least 65 acres in Alford, Massachusetts, where he set up a six-home residential collective, Alford Family Farm, and a multipurpose community center, the Berkshire People's Gym, which was closed to "landlords and capitalists", among others.

Anyone who identified as a communist could live on the property for free, in exchange for property maintenance work and participation in communist theory study groups. Residents included Babochki member Paige Belanger, who met Chambers through the People's Gym programs. In November 2023, shortly after October 7, Chambers and several other protestors staged a direct action protest at Elbit's Merrimack, New Hampshire, blocking the entrance, pouring paint on the building, breaking windows, and locking a lobby door; eight people were arrested. Chambers paid $50,000 to bail three out. Following the arrests, fellow commune member Paige Belanger served a prison sentence in connection with the Elbit action, while Chambers relocated abroad, which strained her relationship with him. Despite the rift, Chambers paid Belanger's legal fees and, following the closure of the Alford commune, provided her with a severance payment. Director Sinead O'Shea, introduced to the commune by a friend who lived there during the COVID-19 pandemic, followed Chambers for two years.

Personal life Chambers first married a Russian woman, Anya Vostrova, whom he met at Bard. They lived in Russia for some time after 2008, and have three children together. Chambers and Schnabel had attended Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn together and reconnected in New York decades later, when Chambers was with Park and spotted Schnabel across the room at a cafe. His wealth is self-reported to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.