The second season of the Bravo series The McBee Dynasty unfolded with a significant change in its cast dynamics, as Steve McBee Sr. stepped back from the spotlight. His decision came in the wake of an ongoing FBI investigation, which he later disclosed was the reason for his absence.

This unexpected turn of events led his sons—Steven McBee Jr., Jesse McBee, Cole McBee, and Brayden McBee—to assume the helm of their family farm in Missouri, as well as take center stage in their reality show.

Before the season two premiere in June 2025, Steve had pleaded guilty to federal crop insurance fraud in November 2024. The charge stemmed from his admission of falsifying crop yield reports back in 2018.

While fans were aware of the legal troubles before the episodes aired, only Steven Jr. was privy to the details during filming. It wasn’t until the season finale, which aired in September 2025, that he shared the news of the investigation with his brothers Jesse and Cole.

The McBee brothers committed to portraying the full spectrum of their reality—both the triumphs and the tribulations—on their show, including their candid reactions to their father’s legal issues. “It’s really, really tough because that is constantly at the forefront of your mind, no matter what you’re doing,” Steven McBee Jr. shared in an exclusive interview with Us, reflecting on the challenges they faced while filming.

“I’m obviously afraid,” Cole confessed to the cameras. Jesse, meanwhile, revealed, “My dad, he’s 51 years old. He’s getting up in age. I’m definitely a little scared at the thought of my dad going to jail.”

Steve was sentenced in October 2025 to two years in prison and two years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay more than $4 million in restitution.

Scroll down to see Steve and his family have said about his fraud scandal — before and after his sentencing:

Steven McBee Jr.

“We’ve leaned into family. We take it day by day,” Steven exclusively told Us Weekly of their mindset in July 2025. “The situation is still ongoing. We’re hoping to have it wrapped up and have some finality to it before the end of the year. That’s the goal, just so we can move on and say, ‘OK, we’ve got this figured out. We can start life again now.’”

During the season 2 finale of the Bravo series, which aired in September 2025, Steven got real about the stress he and his father felt amid the legal woes.

“We’ve been going back and forth with the government [for a year],” Steven said on the episode, explaining that their dad “is under the most intense pressure I’ve ever seen in my life. I can tell this has taken a toll on him. I don’t know what the end result of this thing is going to be.”

Following Steve’s sentencing in October 2025, Steven showed him support via social media. “Love ya Dad,” Steven captioned an Instagram Story photo with his father riding horses. “Whole family is here for you.”

Jesse McBee

“It was a shell shock just seeing the weight that Steven had been [dealing with],” Jesse exclusively told Us in July 2025, noting that he found out on camera about his dad’s FBI issues. “It made a lot of things make a lot more sense, just the way that Steven was stressed out and we were trying to figure out why we thought we knew all of his stresses, and obviously he was holding that in and bearing that weight on his shoulders.”

The following month, Jesse exclusively told Us that both he and Cole “wish” Steven would have told them “sooner” to “help share that burden,” but understood why their big brother kept it a secret so long.

Steven “Steve” McBee Sr. was thrust into the limelight during season 1 of The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys — but soon his legal woes were making headlines. Fans met Steve and his four sons, Steven McBee Jr., Jesse McBee, Cole McBee and Brayden McBee, during the first season of the reality show in 2024 […]

“He gave us the nitty gritty of pretty much the entire situation, and obviously we have daily conversations with my dad still about it,” Jesse explained. “And kind of what the game plan is and how we’re going to just move forward.”

He continued, “At the end of the day, we’re still family, and we support each other no matter what,” noting that in Steve’s absence from the farm, the brothers have stepped up. Jesse told Us that he is head of construction, Steven is still CEO and head of their meat company, while Cole runs the farm aspect.

Cole McBee

After learning about Steve’s FBI investigation during the September 2025 finale, Cole told the cameras, “Part of me is scared to death right now. This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Once Cole and girlfriend Kacie Adkison welcomed their daughter, Blair, in December 2024, which was featured in the season 2 finale, he again spoke about his dad’s troubles. “There’s a lot of tough problems that we’re going through, but when I hold Blair it just all goes away,” Cole said through tears.

He later confessed, “It’s upsetting to watch someone work your whole life, every single day and have one mistake change everything.”

Cole addressed his father’s sentencing via Instagram in October 2025, writing, “We will get through anything together.” He posted a family photo via his Instagram Stories, adding, “To the hardest working man I know, it’s our turn to be here for you. We got you dad.”

Calah Jackson

Calah, who dated eldest son Steven on and off from 2021 to 2024, revealed during an August 2025 episode of The McBee Dynasty that she was in the know about Steve’s FBI drama.

“Steven told me that Steve was being investigated by the FBI,” she said after a day of drinking with then-boyfriend Steven in the Ozarks. “I definitely think he’s trying to stop me from talking about it to his family.” (Steven and Calah split at the end of 2024 amid filming season 2.)

Calah proceeded to leave the family’s vacation and hinted that Steve’s issues would soon come to light. “I have so much tea on this family. If I wanted to, I could bury them. Trust me, there are secrets they would not want to come out. Although there might be one coming out very soon.”

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In August 2025, Calah exclusively told Us she never planned to tell anyone about Steve’s FBI scandal, but rather she was trying to “defend” herself during her fight with Steven and his brothers.

Looking back, Calah told Us she thinks Steven only told her about the FBI drama because she was a “shoulder to lean on and help him go through those motions.” She also revealed that she was told about Steve’s troubles “six months or so before everybody else.”

Kristi McBee

Steve’s ex-wife and the mother of his four sons was in the loop about the investigation from the moment Steven was informed. However, Kristi has not publicly weighed in on the scandal, instead she’s spoken on camera about how it’s affected her eldest child.

“Steven’s just having a hard time being positive about anything right now,” she revealed during the September 2025 finale, noting, “We don’t know at all what’s going to happen with Steve. We don’t know what’s to come.”