Moore under investigation for ‘Sicko’

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

The investigation provides another contentious lead-in for a provocative film by Moore, a fierce critic of President 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 healthcare industry to task the way Moore confronted America’s 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 that it was conducting a civil investigation for possible violations of the U.S. trade embargo restricting travel to Cuba. A copy of the letter was obtained by the Associated Press.

“This office has no record that a specific license was issued authorizing you to engage in travel-related transactions involving Cuba,” Dale Thompson, OFAC chief of general investigations and field operations, wrote in the letter to Moore.

Moore declined to comment, said spokeswoman Lisa Cohen.

In a statement Thursday, “Sicko” producer Meghan O’Hara said the Treasury investigation might be an attempt to undermine the film.

“Our healthcare system is broken and, all too often, deadly,” O’Hara said. “The efforts of the Bush administration to conduct a politically motivated investigation of Michael Moore and ‘Sicko’ will not stop us from making sure the American people see this film.”

“Sicko” premieres May 19 at the Cannes Film Festival and debuts in U.S. theaters June 29.

Potential penalties for violating the embargo were not indicated. In 2003, the New York Yankees paid the government $75,000 to settle a dispute that it conducted business in Cuba in violation of the embargo. No specifics were released about that case.