Michael Moore faces U.S. probe of Cuba trip

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore is under investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department for taking ailing Sept. 11, 2001 rescue workers to Cuba for a segment in his health-care documentary Sicko.

The investigation provides another contentious lead-in for a provocative film by Moore, a fierce critic of President George W. Bush. In the past, Moore's adversaries have fanned publicity that helped the filmmaker create a new brand of opinionated blockbuster documentary.

Sicko promises to take the U.S. health-care industry to task the way Moore confronted Americans' passion for guns in Bowling for Columbine and skewered Bush over his handling of Sept. 11 in Fahrenheit 9/11.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control notified Moore in a letter dated May 2 it is conducting a civil investigation for possible violations of the U.S. trade embargo restricting travel to Cuba.