Helena political campaign treasurer pleads guilty to wire fraud, admits stealing funds

A Helena-based political campaign treasurer and business owner pleaded guilty Tuesday to three federal counts of wire fraud, admitting in court she stole more than $250,000 from several political candidates and organizations she was working for.

Abbey Lee Cook, 35, entered into a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Montana last month. The charges mean she could face prison time, fines and will have to pay back at least $253,000 in restitution to the five victims she defrauded, who are unnamed in court documents.

Judge Brian Morris accepted the plea deal Tuesday morning in a hearing in Great Falls after asking her what had happened that led her to steal thousands from the Democratic candidates and left-leaning political organizations.

After consulting with her attorney for several minutes, Cook told him that she had taken on too much work for what she had time for, had gotten overwhelmed, was not properly tracking her time or what she was owed, and was not performing the work she had been hired to do on time.

“It was the heaviest load I’ve ever had,” she told the court. “The train ran away rather quickly.”

Through her political consulting business, Abbey Lee Cook and Associates, LLC, Cook was supposed to be filing compliance reports with the Commissioner of Political Practices (COPP) and handling money for candidate and committee campaigns for whom she set up bank accounts.

But between 2021 and 2024, she would deposit checks from those accounts into her own business account, and at times transferred money from one candidate’s account to another candidate’s. She also filed false reports with the COPP underreporting campaign cash. Even when two of the victims flagged missing money, Cook lied about the money accidentally being misdirected, according to court documents and testimony at Tuesday’s hearing.

She used the money she stole to make payments on her personal credit cards, car loans and the commercial property she was leasing, the Windsor Ballroom on Last Chance Gulch in Helena. Local business owners have also alleged Cook defrauded them, though she is not currently facing any charges in Lewis and Clark County tied to those allegations.

Cook quietly answered Morris’ questions, telling him she was now separated from her husband and has been going to therapy for mental illness since middle school.

Cook admitted to stealing political money for her own personal gain and to cover what she called her own “poor performance” at the jobs she was hired for.

“I want to make it right and that’s why I’m entering the guilty plea,” she said.

Each count of wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Over the next few months, she will be interviewed by a federal probation officer to determine her sentencing guidelines.

Under the plea deal, prosecutors will recommend a low-end sentence, but that will be determined in part by her criminal history, acceptance of responsibility, and the severity of the crime. She told the judge she had never been previously convicted of a felony. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will recommend a sentence to Judge Morris, who will make the ultimate determination at a hearing scheduled for Jan. 15, 2026, in Great Falls.

Cook will not be held in custody pending her sentencing hearing, but under her conditions of release, she has to seek employment, surrender her passport, have no contact with the victims, not possess a firearm or use alcohol, and submit to random drug and alcohol testing.

Among those in attendance at Tuesday’s hearing were two of her victims, Missoula Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr and the executive director of Big Sky 55+. Also in attendance was Commissioner of Political Practices Chris Gallus, who is investigating campaign fraud allegations separate from the case, and former U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich, who was still in office when the investigation into Cook got underway, he said.

Laslovich is now in private practice but was contracted to help the COPP conduct its investigation into the campaign finance complaints filed against Cook by Zephyr and another victim, Sen. Cora Neumann, a Bozeman Democrat.

Gallus said the COPP investigation is looking into whether Cook violated state law by committing deceptive election practices through her filing of false reports. He said there was no timeline for that investigation to finish up.

Cook's attorney declined to comment after the hearing.

Trent Bolger, executive director for Big Sky 55+, said the group and other victims would likely be hearing more in the coming weeks and months about getting restitution payments from Cook.

“I hope she makes the victims whole,” Bolger said.

Zephyr told the Montana State News Bureau after the hearing that Cook had betrayed the trust of her and the other victims and that she hoped “justice will be brought.”

“I’d expect the feds to be the hammer and the COPP the gate that keeps her from harming more victims,” Zephyr said.