‘The McBee Dynasty’: Inside Dad Steven McBee Sr.’s Guilty Plea on Fraud Charges
The McBee family is back on TV. But viewers won’t see dad Steven McBee Sr. in the upcoming season of The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys, which premieres June 30 on Bravo.
The man behind the Missouri ranching and farming dynasty had to bow out of filming season 2 of his family’s reality show due to his legal woes. Last year, McBee Sr. pleaded guilty to crop insurance fraud. Now, he’s facing a lengthy prison sentence for his crimes.
Steven McBee Sr. faces 30 years in prison
In November 2024, McBee Sr. was in federal court, where he pleaded guilty to a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme involving federal crop insurance benefits.
Prosecutors said that in 2018, the reality TV personality underreported his total corn and soybean crop. As a result, he received $3.2 million in federal crop insurance benefits and subsidies to which he was not entitled. He committed additional fraud in 2019 and 2020, including misrepresenting planting dates for certain crops so that he could falsely claim insurance benefits. In total, his financial trickery cost the United States Department of Agriculture more then $4 million.
McBee is facing up to 30 years in prison without parole. As part of his plea agreement, he must also pay restitution, in addition to forfeiting $3.2 million to the government. His sentencing his scheduled for September 2025.
‘The McBee Dynasty’ star’s son says dad’s legal drama is ‘a really difficult situation’
With their dad facing the possibility of decades in prison, his four sons – Steven Jr., Cole, Jesse, and Brayden – will have to step up and shepherd the family business through the crisis, with some help from their mom, Kristi, who will take on a much more prominent role in season 2.
“It is a real-life situation that we were dealing with throughout filming season 2. Obviously, right now, we’re still dealing with it,” Steven Jr. told the New York Post of his father’s guilty plea, adding that the situation had “made us come together closer as a family.”
Season 2 won’t ignore the legal drama, the Joe Millionaire: For Richer or Poorer alum said. In the teaser, Steven tells his brother that the family is “under FBI investigation” and “there may be prison time involved.” But it also won’t take center stage.
“Yes, we’re dealing with that, and yes, it is a really difficult situation,” he said. “But, we’re going to focus on the good, positive things that are going on.”
Those positive things include the impending birth of Cole and Kacie’s baby, Jesse and Allie’s impending wedding, and eligible bachelor Brayden’s search for love.
The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys premieres Monday, June 30 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo. Episodes stream the next day on Peacock.
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