GREAT FALLS — A Montana Democratic campaign consultant pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud Tuesday in U.S. District Court, blaming her theft of $253,000 from clients on being overwhelmed at work.
Abbey Lee Cook, 34, told the court she had an unmanageable workload leading up to the 2024 election, but failed to connect that stress to her embezzling from several campaigns.
“I took on too much work for my time capabilities and got overwhelmed and turned around and was not properly tracking my time, or what was properly owed and did not do a good job of recordkeeping or doing the job for which I was hired. And as a result, knowingly made transfers and did things to cover for performance.”
That response, the first statement Cook has publicly made about a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison per charge, prompted Chief Judge Brian Morris to remind Cook she stole and spent the money.
“It wasn’t just terrible performance. The government alleges you used some of this money for personal needs, personal bills, credit card payments, payments for vehicles, that sort of thing,” Morris said.
“Mrs. Cook, you don’t have to answer my questions. You admitted the elements. I’m just trying to understand,” Morris said. “ … I’m just trying to give you a chance to tell your side of the story before the government finishes their side.”
Before explaining her crime, Cook did admit to wrongfully transferring funds from campaign clients to her own account.
Cook told the court she got her start in campaign compliance working for former U.S. Rep. Max Rose, a New York Democrat, before returning to Montana to launch her business based in Helena.
She described herself as married but separated and a graduate of Bozeman High School and Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington.
U.S. Attorney Zeno Baucus said in exchange for Cook’s plea and her agreement to repay at least $253,000 to victims, prosecutors agreed not to object to a sentence at or below the minimal threshold for punishment.
Prosecutors identified a half-dozen political committees Cook embezzled from starting in late 2021 and continuing into the 2024 general election year. Cook worked for the committees under the name “Abbey Lee Cook and Associates.” Her business and any employees haven’t been implicated in Cook’s crimes.
At the Great Falls hearing Tuesday, former Cook client Zooey Zephyr, a Democratic state representative from Missoula, watched from the peanut gallery but did not come forward when Morris asked if there were victims who wanted to testify. Zephyr has filed a complaint against Cook with the state Commissioner of Political Practices, claiming Cook stole $53,100 from Zephyr’s campaign during the 2024 cycle.
An employee of Cook’s entertainment business based in Helena, Anchor G, told Montana Free Press that Cook hadn’t paid her or other staff for work related to weddings, as well as events at The Windsor Ballroom, a venue Cook leased as part of the entertainment business.
Several of Cook’s would-be wedding clients have left reviews online stating that Cook took their money and never delivered on wedding services or offered substandard service.
Outside the court building, Montana Commissioner of Political Practices Chris Gallus said political committees that used Cook were starting to make corrections to campaign finance records that had remained unchanged while the FBI investigated Cook for the past several months.
Morris scheduled Cook to return to court for sentencing Jan. 12, 2026.
After the hearing, Cook emerged from the federal building shielded from photos by her attorney and others.
This story was updated Sept. 10, 2025, to correct Abbey Lee Cook’s age.
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