The FBI impersonated documentary filmmakers in order to infiltrate the Bundy family

Cliven Bundy.
(Image credit: George Frey/Getty Images)

Undercover FBI agents posed as documentary filmmakers in order to retrieve information to bolster a case against the Bundy family for their 2014 armed standoff against the United States Bureau of Land Management, The Intercept reports.

The fake film, titled America Reloaded, was attached to a similarly fake production company, the website of which is still available. Curiously, the FBI was not seeking details about an event that was being planned but instead one that was "widely documented" already. (Two members of the Bundy family, Ammon and Ryan, later coordinated the 2015 standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.)

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.