ZOE
COOKSON

An unseen presence behind the payments

In the early chapters, Ouriel reports that Cookson communicated through WhatsApp to arrange payments for lessons, memberships and later a proposed horse investment. Payments connected to Polo United’s Florida activity were directed through a Taqueada Polo account, linking the newer operation to the earlier California business.

Cookson remained physically absent from the club while functioning, in the reporting, as the person who converted verbal pitches into invoices and payment instructions.

What former members said happened to the horses

Part V does not merely associate Cookson with bookkeeping. Former Taqueada members accused Cookson and Desenzani of actively participating in the neglect of horses entrusted to their operation.

Ruby told Ouriel that horses were left standing in deep mud without adequate shelter. When she complained, she said Cookson defended the conditions and, together with Desenzani, demanded additional money for an awning and sand. Other former members described hazardous wire fencing, deteriorated corrals and horses denied appropriate pasture access.

One source said a visibly ill horse was dismissed and ridden before being diagnosed with colic and nearly dying. Another alleged that Cookson and Desenzani assured her that a horse was safe to ride; the horse threw her, causing permanent injuries that ended her polo career.

The financial operator

Cookson appeared whenever a verbal pitch had to become a payment. Ouriel reports that she issued billing instructions for lessons, memberships and the proposed horse-investment arrangement. Money connected to Polo United’s Florida activity was directed through a Taqueada Polo account.

Former Taqueada participants alleged that Cookson and Desenzani denied an investor access to financial records, concealed credit-card statements and used business credit for purchases the investor considered personal. The investigation portrays Cookson’s distance from clients as operational insulation—not absence from the conduct itself.

The allegedly fraudulent $1 million appeal

After Desenzani’s catastrophic injury, Cookson organized a GoFundMe seeking $1 million. Part VI reports that the campaign initially appeared under the name “Danielle Smith” before the organizer name was changed to Zoe Cookson.

The fundraiser presented Desenzani as a candidate for extensive rehabilitation. Yet sources told Ouriel that Cookson was privately describing a devastating prognosis and saying he had effectively no brain function. Hours after launching the appeal, public updates attributed to Cookson described him listening to music, responding to voices and participating in a family FaceTime call.

When donations stalled at $10,645, the campaign description was changed to add travel expenses for Desenzani’s family. The investigation characterizes the campaign as fraudulent because it alleges that donors were solicited through materially misleading representations about his condition and how the money would be used.

Participant, not bystander

Ouriel’s conclusion is unequivocal: Cookson was not an unwitting accountant caught in Desenzani’s operation. The investigation identifies her as the recurring financial and administrative participant connecting Taqueada Polo, Polo United, investor communications and the later GoFundMe.

She is accused of helping control the money, withhold information, answer complaints about animal welfare and market a fundraising narrative that contradicted private statements. The conduct described by sources forms the basis for the investigation’s conclusion that Cookson helped make the operation financially possible while remaining largely outside public view.

No criminal conviction against Cookson is asserted here. That does not erase the documentary record, the fundraiser materials or the firsthand allegations published in the investigation.