In just a season and some change, the McBee family of The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys are making a name for themselves in the reality TV world, but their mounting legal troubles mean they've also made a name for themselves in the eyes of the U.S. government.
The tale of a wealthy family of farmers in Missouri and the power struggles they've faced have captured audiences, but with an FBI investigation looming during The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys season 2, the family might have gotten more than they bargained for.
Currently, patriarch Steve McBee Sr. is awaiting sentencing for his role in a massive crop insurance fraud scheme, to which he pled guilty back in November 2024. Steve isn't appearing physically on his family's reality show's second season, but his presence looms large, and the clues about the family's legal struggles continue to appear as the show airs.
The Farm Was Constantly In Financial Trouble
The Family Was Subjected To "Random" Audits And Inspections
During the first episode of The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys
Signs of trouble began to emerge when the family discussed the seemingly random audits and inspections they were constantly subjected to. Steve Sr. brushed off the inspections as being because so many were jealous of the McBee family's wealth, but now that we know that Steve Sr. was the subject of an FBI investigation, the "random" inspections seem like they were more deliberate.
Despite running such a large operation, the business was constantly short on cash flow. They struggled to make payroll, which seemed odd for a business as successful as theirs. Steve Sr. said financial struggles were common in the farming and ranching business, but it seemed like there was a larger piece of the puzzle missing.
The McBee family was always in danger of losing everything. After some bad crop seasons, the family business had taken on so much debt, and they were fighting to remain afloat.
They Ran Out Of Insurance Claims
The Family Couldn't File Insurance Claims After A Theft
Steve McBee The McBee Dynasty Real American Cowboys
Also in the first episode of The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys season 1, a truck is stolen from the McBee farm. Steve Sr. is hesitant to file an insurance claim for the stolen vehicle, saying that the family didn't get any "love from the community," which was an odd statement to make, as the two seem unrelated.
"We have theft, we have sabotage. Destruction of our equipment. It's like the whole world's against you. We get chosen for every audit, like these random audits. It's absolutely selective enforcement."
He'd rather eat the $100k value of the truck than file a claim on it. To have filed so many insurance claims that they were no longer able to is beyond suspicious, and it's another sign that the family wasn't being truthful about their business. Their legal troubles were hiding in plain sight all along.
Steven Sent Calah Large Sums Of Money
The Family Was Suspicious
The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys's Calah Jackson
In yet another telling scene from The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys season 1, Steven Jr.'s girlfriend, Calah Jackson, lets it slip that Steven Jr. sometimes sent her obscenely large sums of cash without any reason.
As Calah chatted with Cole's girlfriend Kacie Adkison and Jesse's girlfriend Allie Ventresca over drinks, the women discussed how their partners would send them money occasionally, a few hundred dollars here and there. Calah seemed surprised by the low sums of money the other girls were receiving, and said that Steven Jr. sometimes sent her $10k or $20k, which shocked the other women.
Now, in light of the FBI investigation, it's clear there were signs all along that the family might be in more trouble than they wanted to admit, especially on reality TV.
