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The FBI charged Abbey Lee Cook of Abbey Lee Cook and Associates LLC (dissolved in 2024) with allegedly embezzling over $250,000 in funds from campaign and non-profit accounts across Montana.

Montana has its swamp, and members of both major parties occupy it. Still, if you primarily operate in Democratic Party circles, you are familiar with Abbey Lee Cook of Abbey Lee Cook and Associates LLC. Cook routinely served as the treasurer for Democratic campaigns or other like-minded organizations around the state. Some campaign examples are Ben Alke for Attorney General, Zooey Zephyr for the State Representative, John Repke for State Auditor, Jeremiah Lynch for State Supreme Court, and Cora Neumann for State Senate. Organizations include Planned Parenthood Association of Montana, Big Sky 55+/Montana 55+ (Now Montana Senior Vote), Compassion for Montana Families, and Carol’s List Montana.

Cook was charged with:

Embezzled funds, possibly exceeding $250,000.

The charges could lead to further actions because she:

Lied to the Commissioner of Political Practices office (COPP).
Routinely deleted transactions or submitted amendments to confuse audit trails.
Moved funds between campaigns or organizations without their knowledge and deleted financial report filings that would highlight the movement of those funds.

All allegations are against Cook as Treasurer or Deputy Treasurer, not against any organization. However, the allegations and history do not paint a good picture of the Montana Democratic Party or the listed organizations because they are ultimately responsible for their funds and reports. All information was derived from publicly accessible reports on the Montana CERS (Campaign Electronic Reporting System) website.

We determined that the nature of the reports Cook submitted to the political practices office followed two patterns.

Reports reflecting excessive amounts paid for her services.
Reports showing no payment for her services, but which have multiple amendments submitted, calling their accuracy and truthfulness into question.

When we highlight clean reports below, we mean those with at most one amendment submitted. Manipulated reports are reports with multiple amendments. Manipulating a report does not automatically mean it was done to embezzle funds; however, given Cook’s history, it is reasonable to assume that the report was amended to confuse auditors or researchers.

In her clean reports, we found evidence as follows.

Organizations.
1. YES to Ravalli Open Lands – $20,030.55 was paid to Cook in their closing report, making the final balance $0.00.
1. Montana Senior Vote (Formerly Big Sky 55+/Montana 55+) – $27,994 was paid to Cook. Of that total, $18,000 was paid to Cook in a lump sum on their August 2024 report. This was the last report Cook submitted before a new treasurer took over. It’s worth wondering why a new treasurer was hired right after the large payment.
1. Carol’s List – Cook claimed $3,000 was paid to her on her March 31, 2024, report. This is minor compared to her pattern of large payments to herself. However, the March through October 2024 reports maintain an ongoing balance of $52,000+. The Sentinel staff will continue watching the balance for large outgoing payments.
Campaigns.
1. John Repke – (State Auditor) – No funds were reported expended to pay for her services, and Repke replaced her after three months.
1. Jeremiah Lynch – (Supreme Court Chief Justice) – $26,400 was paid to Cook over eight months’ reports.
1. Ben Alke – (Attorney General) – $23,000 was paid to Cook over eight months’ reports.

The Sentinel staff is looking further into the Lynch and Alke campaigns. However, it is worth noting that accounting firms that provide services for candidates or committees typically charge between $100 and $400 per month. This is easily verified by reviewing the financial reports of many other candidates and committees. In eight months, which would equal $3,200 paid on the high end, not payments exceeding $20,000.

We found evidence of likely manipulation in Cook’s reports containing multiple amendments.

Organizations.
- Compassion for Montana Families – No reported funds are expended to pay for Cook’s services. There are six reports and five amendments.
- Planned Parenthood Association of Montana – Cook was listed as Treasurer, and The Sentinel is investigating some suspicious activity involving the disappearance of sums reaching into six figures.
- Big Sky 55+/Montana 55+ – These organizations closed in July 2023 and reopened under Montana Senior Vote in October 2023. $17,859 was reported as paid to Cook for her services between September 25, 2021, and June 30, 2023. That amount is still more than double the normal service cost, even using the high end of $400 per month. Seven amendments were also submitted, six of the seven on July 5, 2023, immediately after closing one organization and just before opening the other. It is not yet determined if she was skimming from Big Sky 55+/Montana55+ as she submitted multiple amendments. Cook is not listed as the Treasurer on the Big Sky 55+/Montana 55+ committee registration, but she submitted the reports and got paid for her services. Verification that she was paid for her services is in the reports starting in September 2021.
Campaigns
- Zooey Zephyr (aka Zachary Raasch) – $16,900 was paid to Cook over six months. However, in the Summer of 2023, this account had nearly $100,000. Cook submitted reports between March and October 2024 that showed no financial activity and an ongoing balance of $27,000+. There is unlikely to be no financial activity during the campaign season.
- Cora Neumann—$3,150 was reportedly paid to Cook. Nine reports were submitted between December 31, 2023, and November 15, 2024, inconsistent with Cook’s payment history.
- Erin Farris-Olson—$0.00 was disclosed for Cook’s services between March 15, 2024, and November 15, 2024. However, twelve amendments were filed, which is suspicious.

Important general information regarding Cook.

She was not listed on the Big Sky 55+/Montana 55+ registration. Even though she was not named as Treasurer on their registration, she was paid to perform the function of Treasurer starting in September 2021, according to the information posted in the committee’s finance reports.
For all other registrations, she was listed as the Deputy Treasurer, with her email address used for both Treasurer and Deputy Treasurer. By doing so, Cook ensured that the candidate or committee never received communications initiated from the Commissioner’s Political Practices office. It is not determined if she also prevented candidates or committees from seeing financial reports or bank accounts.
Valley Bank was used for all of Cook’s accounting and financial work with candidates and committees, as the registrations indicate. This may have benefited her by allowing her easy control of and access to all funds and accounts.
To determine which candidates or committees Cook was tied to, we researched the Campaign Electronic Reporting System and the Commissioner of Political Practices.

Jeremiah Lynch for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Instagram Page

The Montana Democratic Party recommended her for Treasurer positions in the past, where she once served on the party’s Executive Board after completing her time as a Legislative Aide to the Senate Minority Leadership. She is married to Stephen Riggs, and together, they owned and operated the Windsor Ballroom on Helena’s North Last Chance Gulch. According to the Montana Secretary of State’s website, the business was involuntarily canceled in December 2024.

Riggs once worked in former Governor Bullock’s office before he was hired at the Global Strategy Group in New York City. A public relations and communications group whose website states they are “Recognized as a top pollster in Democratic politics for several decades [and] led messaging strategy and ballot initiatives on important issues facing our country including reproductive rights, gun violence prevention, and the environment.” Whether Riggs knows of Cook’s alleged activity as a Treasurer is unknown.

Cook worked on multiple campaigns and for various organizations, including The Wilds Collective (a 501c3 nonprofit where she is the registered agent), The Advance Group, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Carol’s List Montana, and the Montana Democratic Party. Campaigns included Max Rose for Congress, Brian Flynn for Congress, Zach Brown for Montana, and New Yorkers for Tali.

Abbey Look Cook LLC sponsored events with similar organizations, but only Abbey Lee Cook was involved in the alleged actions.

Abbey Lee Cook and Associates

(Dissolved 2024)

A search for Abbey Lee Cook LLC shows it as inactive on December 1, 2024.

The Wilds Collective

Cook is listed as the registered agent for The Wilds Collective.

Cook and her husband, Riggs, are listed as incorporators.

The Windsor Ballroom

The Windsor Ballroom is also listed as involuntarily canceled and inactive on December 1, 2024.

Anchor G

Anchor G is associated with The Windsor Ballroom but was also inactive on December 1, 2024, when it was involuntarily canceled.

Cook and Riggs both have address histories associated with New York City. It is unclear why Cook has a previous address of 590 Lafayette Avenue #2F, Brooklyn, NY 11216, and Riggs has 265 Nostrand Avenue Apt D7, Brooklyn, NY 11216. The two addresses are on the same corner.