Two real-life Miami-Dade sheriff’s officers have filed a defamation lawsuit against Matt Damon and Ben Affleck over their Netflix movie “The Rip.” The officers claim the film falsely portrays them as corrupt police who stole drug money and committed serious crimes.
The lawsuit, filed in Miami federal court, names Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana as plaintiffs. They are suing Artists Equity, the production company Damon and Affleck started together. The officers want money for damage to their reputations, plus a public retraction and correction from the filmmakers.
Real 2016 Drug Case Became Movie Inspiration
The trouble started with a real police operation from June 2016. Officers found more than $21 million in cash hidden inside orange buckets behind a false wall. The money was in a Miami Lakes home linked to a suspected drug trafficker.
Santana worked as the lead detective on that case. Smith supervised the team that carried out the raid. For years, they were known for solving a major drug investigation.
Then came “The Rip.” The movie shows Damon and Affleck playing Miami-Dade officers who find millions in cartel cash during a raid. But the film takes a dark turn. The officers get involved in stealing the money, working with cartel members, and even killing a federal agent.
The officers say the movie used too many real details from their 2016 case. Even though the film doesn’t use their names, they argue people who know about the real raid can easily figure out who the characters are based on.
Officers Say Movie Has Ruined Their Reputations
Jonathan Santana told reporters the situation has been painful.
“When you rip something, you’re stealing something. We never stole a dollar,” he said.
The lawsuit says family members, coworkers, and even prosecutors have questioned the officers after watching the movie. People have asked them how many buckets of money they kept. Others suggested they used seized cash to buy cars, boats, and pay for private school for their kids.
Santana explained that before the movie came out, people celebrated him for solving the big drug case. Now he gets teased and questioned about being a dirty cop.
His lawyer, Ignacio Alvarez, put it simply. “They portrayed police officers as dirty, they portrayed my clients as dirty. Now their reputations are hurt,” Alvarez said. “My clients are now hurt for the rest of their lives.”
The officers also claim they sent a cease-and-desist letter to the filmmakers before the movie came out in January 2026. They asked for changes, but the film was released anyway without any fixes.
Filmmakers Say Movie Is Fiction, Not About Real People
The legal team for Artists Equity has pushed back hard against the lawsuit. In a March 19 response letter, lawyer Leita Walker said the movie does not claim to tell the true story of that specific drug raid.
Walker pointed out that the film includes a disclaimer. It says the story is dramatized and any similarity to real people is coincidental.
The lawyers also noted that the officers haven’t even said which character in the movie is supposed to be them. Without that connection, it’s hard to claim defamation.
When Damon talked to the Associated Press in January, he said he and Affleck spent time with real narcotics officers to prepare for their roles. They worked with Chris Casiano, a former Miami-Dade police captain who served as technical adviser on the film.
“We really wanted to kind of understand what those dynamics were like,” Damon said. “I mean, these units are very tight because they’re really putting their lives in each other’s hands, and they’re doing something that’s very dangerous.”
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Hialeah Mayor Also Criticized the Movie
The controversy isn’t just about the lawsuit. Bryan Calvo, the mayor of Hialeah where much of the movie was filmed, called “The Rip” a “slap in the face to our law enforcement personnel.”
Calvo worried about how the movie makes his city look. “If you have never been to Hialeah, if you live somewhere else in this country and you see this film, I wouldn’t want to come here, and that’s a problem,” he said.
The movie came out on Netflix in January 2026. Joe Carnahan directed it. Besides Damon and Affleck, the cast includes Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Sasha Calle, and Kyle Chandler.
As of now, neither Damon nor Affleck has publicly responded to the lawsuit. Netflix is not named as a defendant in the legal action.
The officers are asking for money damages, including punitive damages, plus attorney fees. They also want a public retraction and a more prominent disclaimer added to the movie.
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