In a recent news conference, filmmaker Michael Moore accused the US government of harassment for prompting an investigation over his trip to Cuba for his upcoming documentary about the American health-care system, "Sicko."

The director also said he has hidden a copy of his film in Canada because he fears the government might try to seize it due to parts of the movie shot during an unauthorized trip to Cuba.

"We brought back 15 minutes of the movie and we're concerned about any possible confiscation efforts," Moore told a news conference in New York.

"We took measures a few weeks ago to place a master copy of this film in Canada so if they did take our negative we would have a duplicate negative of this film in Canada."

Moore, who did most of the talking Monday, told the 30 or so media members present that he is "concerned about that the Bush Administration might do over the next couple of weeks. I would have thought they would have waited until long after the film had been released to go after me."

American citizens are usually prohibited from traveling to Cuba unless they approved by the government under a trade embargo imposed since 1962.

In a response letter sent to Moore by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, Moore’s attorney, David Boies, noted that his client has been a critic of President Bush in his previous works and thus, he is concerned "that Mr. Moore has been selected for discriminatory treatment by your office."

"I am requesting that you provide to me information regarding the person or persons who participated in making the decision to send Mr. Thompson's letter, the nature of the discussions that took place, and the knowledge your office had of Mr. Moore and his trip to Cuba at the time the letter was sent," a copy of the letter obtained by Associated Press wrote.