Moore: 'US investigation timing is insane'

Filmmaker Michael Moore is baffled by the timing of a US federal investigation into his trip to Cuba for new movie Sicko, because the government knew about his plans to travel to the Caribbean island last year.

Earlier this month, Moore received a letter from the US Treasury Department's Office Of Foreign Assets Control, notifying him that it was conducting a civil investigation for possible violations of the trade embargo restricting travel to Cuba.

The Oscar-winner's latest documentary is an exposé on the US health care system and allegedly features a segment where Moore takes a group of former Ground Zero relief workers on a trip to Cuba.

Communist Cuba is under a trade embargo from the US and most Americans are banned from travelling to the Caribbean island.

But Moore can't understand why the government only decided to take action earlier this month, because all it has done is raise the profile of the movie ahead of its planned US release on June 29.

Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, he said: "It's an insane thing. They've known about my desire to go (to Cuba) since last October."