Miami-Dade Sergeants Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana Sue Ben Affleck, Matt Damon Over “The Rip”

Two Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office sergeants, Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana, sued Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s production company Artists Equity over the Netflix action thriller “The Rip,” saying the film used too many real-life details and harmed their personal and professional reputations.

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The officers filed the defamation lawsuit in Miami federal court against Artists Equity, and the complaint says they are seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorney fees, along with a public retraction and correction.

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The lawsuit centers on “The Rip,” which features Affleck and Damon as South Florida police officers who find millions of dollars inside a house, with parts of the movie inspired by a real 2016 case in Miami Lakes where police found over $21 million linked to a suspected marijuana trafficker.

In the real incident described in the suit, the complaint says Santana was serving as the lead detective assigned to the case and Smith was the sergeant who supervised the investigative team, even though the officers are not named in the movie.

Damon told The Associated Press during a January interview that he and Affleck spent time with Capt. Chris Casiano and other narcotics officers in preparation for the film, saying, “We really wanted to kind of understand what those dynamics were like.”

Santana told 7 News Miami, “When you rip something, you’re stealing something. We never stole a dollar,” as the lawsuit argues the film implies misconduct and unethical behavior in connection with a real law-enforcement operation.

Ignacio Alvarez, Santana’s attorney, said, “They portrayed police officers as dirty, they portrayed my clients as dirty. Now their reputations are hurt,” describing the alleged impact on the officers’ lives.

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The complaint, as described by People, says the film and its promotional content imply misconduct, poor judgment, and unethical behavior, and it accuses Damon and Affleck of defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

People also reported that the officers’ complaint alleges the film used distinctive details from a real cash seizure that took place on June 29, 2016, in Miami Lakes, Fla., and that those details allowed people familiar with the case to connect the plaintiffs to the fictional portrayal.

The Guardian reported that the lawsuit was filed on 6 May in a Florida federal courthouse and that the deputies are seeking defamation damages from the actors’ production company Artists Equity, with the film’s title and depiction of narcotics agents at the center of the dispute.

The lawsuit seeks a public retraction and correction, including “the addition of a prominent disclaimer,” and it also asks for compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorney fees, according to Entertainment Weekly as cited by Variety.

“Sergeants Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana sue the producers of 'The Rip' for defamation, alleging the film portrays them as corrupt law enforcement agents”

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Variety reported that the officers’ attorneys allege that after the film was released in January 2026, responses to their inquiry said the concerns were unfounded because the film did not expressly name Sergeant Smith and there was no implication that the plaintiffs engaged in misconduct in the film.

In the NBC 6 South Florida account, the lawsuit says letters were sent to Falco Pictures, LLC, and Artists Equity, LLC to demand a public detraction and other “corrective measures” that weren’t implemented, and it claims the companies refused based on a disclaimer and discrepancies with the actual raid.

NBC 6 South Florida also quoted the disclaimer language used in the film’s credits, stating, “This program is inspired by real events; however, the characters and events depicted have been fictionalized for dramatic purposes,” as the suit argues the longer disclaimer appears only after the film and its credits.

The dispute has also drawn local political criticism, with Hialeah Mayor Bryan Calvo saying, “This movie is a slap in the face to our law enforcement personnel,” after the film placed the raid scene in Hialeah rather than Miami Lakes.