Dominic Thomas
Post written: Oct 2026 • Updated: Oct 2026
3 min read
Did you hear the one about the millionaire Communist?
One of the Documentary films showing at this years London Film Festival was “All About The Money”. A title that was likely to grab the attention of a financial planner who loves film.
The documentary by Irish filmmaker, Sinead O’Shea follows James “Fergie” Cox-Chambers Jr. (1985), for a couple of years. The interest being that despite being a multi millionaire, and still an heir to a share of $38 billion via the Cox family fortune, he has chosen to distance himself from his family and purports to be a communist.
He established a “communist” community, in Alford, a town in Massachusetts, not that far from New York. He has bought houses and land for people to live in and farm, without any financial strings attached and with regular monthly financial support from him for them to all live for free. However it seems that despite the reading groups, nobody has grasped that Fergie controls all the assets and means of production, whilst they have their labour, it’s not put deployed in any evident way.
One of the many things the current US administration has revealed is that a lot of Americans don’t understand what communism is, (or socialism or a mixed economy). Fergie and his Alford community are no different.
What becomes clear is that the community is in fact very small, the members are all rather vulnerable and broken people, who understandably take up the opportunity to live rent free. None of them are particularly committed to communism, they aren’t menacing or violent, but are overwhelmed by Fergie’s constant ranting about the capitalist system and authority.
The understandable feelings about imbalance of power, imperialist attitudes of the US Government give rise to feelings of revolution. The evident atrocities in Gaza galvanised the group into a protest against Israeli arms, surveillance and security technology manufacturers Elbit Systems, listed both on the Nasdaq and Israeli market and worth about $33bn with vast orders in waiting.
It’s alleged that Fergie established Palestinian Action group in the US. The protest, which appears largely to have been vandalism with paint, took place on 12 October 2023.
It may not have escaped your notice that I am not a fan of the genocide, I’m not a supporter of war or violence and authoritarianism. I support the right to peaceful protest and dissent. We desperately need peace. The protest and vandalism by PA USA feel more like despair and horror about murder. It’s a far cry from actual violence and intimidation, the sort that Governments inflict on others.
However, like most “radical groups” this tiny group, feel more like something from the 1970s BBC show “Citizen Smith” (remember Wolfy?) but with the leader having much more cash but nobody possessing the mathematical ability to understand quite how much, let alone a thought out plan.
What becomes increasingly evident is that Fergie is extremely damaged, whatever trauma he has suffered has had a lasting impact. What is fact or fiction isn’t clear, but if it’s true that at 11 he was sent to a brutal psychiatric hospital, there are grounds for understanding him, sadly he hasn’t done any of the therapeutic work that is needed. He spills out, seeking attention and validation… much like several world leaders, politicians and tech billionaires.
Fergie is fairly quick to extol his virtues of financial support. However the community is tiny – 4 houses and a barn, no more than a dozen people. It looks and feels a lot like manipulation or he himself is unable to grasp the maths and value of what is at his disposal.
Cox Enterprises (a business group that owns multiple businesses) is a private company and now worth around $38bn. As such, a valuation isn’t that easy to establish fully. In any event, there will be family Trusts involved, so precisely who is worth what is somewhat irrelevant. It’s estimated that “Fergie” has around $250m at his disposal. You know that investments fluctuate in value, but it wouldn’t be unreasonable to draw a modest income (4%) of at least $10m a year or to put that in terms that media loves, about $27,000 a day, yet he talks often in terms of hundreds of dollars, which is invariably equivalent to the few minutes he spends making coffee.
However he does highlight the problem of numbers at scale. A handout of only $1,000 isn’t likely to make that much difference to anyone, giving it to 10,000 people would amount to $10m. There are around 350m people in the US. Helping 10,000 is a fraction of a fraction of a fraction… the system isn’t sustainable.
The documentary follows him to Tunisia where he has fled from the US “justice” system leaving his flock to face the music (prison). Whilst there, he does that incredibly communist act of buying a football club… the scale of his delusion is lost on him and his wife, though like numerous other very rich men, the number of wives and children he has is almost as hard to count as his vast fortune but reliably self serving.
As one might expect, the purchase of a football team like Club Africain wasn’t without some expectations, neither his rapid conversion. These soon fall apart and he flees to Dublin, from where he intends to start another community.
The filmmaker throughout has included shots of “radical” books and nothing looks more unlikely to be read than the new copy of Ulysses that is perched for view in his luxury suite.
Sadly this was not the documentary I hoped for – there was no insight into quite how the billionaire class remain so comfortable with gross wealth inequality. Fergie isn’t representative of the group with his choices, but perhaps he is of their collective delusion.
At the time of writing, Fergie is under arrest in Spain, fighting against his extradition to the US.
References:
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/22/europe/fergie-chambers-spain-us-extradition-case-intl
https://www.coxenterprises.com/
BBC Citizen Smith: