Two Miami-Dade sheriff's deputies have filed a lawsuit against Hollywood actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, alleging that their portrayal in the Netflix crime drama The Rip unfairly depicts them as corrupt law enforcement officers. The plaintiffs, Jonathan Santana and Jason Smith, are seeking defamation damages from Artists Equity, the production company co-founded by Affleck and Damon.
Background of the Lawsuit
The film, released in January, dramatizes a 2016 drug bust in Miami Lakes where $24 million in cash was discovered hidden behind drywall in 24 buckets. This seizure remains the largest cash haul in the history of the Miami-Dade police department, which became a sheriff's office in January 2025. Santana and Smith were among the narcotics agents involved in the real-life operation.
According to the lawsuit, the movie's narrative of temptation and trust among officers left unsupervised with the recovered money casts the deputies in a negative light. Santana told 7 News Miami, "When you rip something, you're stealing something. We never stole a dollar. They're pretty much saying, you know, how many buckets of money did I steal?"
Community and Legal Reactions
This is not the first time The Rip has sparked controversy in south Florida. Hialeah Mayor Bryan Calvo publicly criticized the film and its lead actors for relocating the raid scene to his city, rather than the actual location of the marijuana stash house. "This movie is a slap in the face of our law enforcement personnel," Calvo stated at a news conference. "Movies can tell a story, but they are fiction. We respect fiction, but our work here is to defend our residents and defend the truth."
Ignacio Alvarez, attorney for Santana and Smith, told 7 News that the lawsuit was filed because the officers suffered "substantial harm to their personal and professional reputations." He added, "They portrayed police officers as dirty, they portrayed my clients as dirty. Now their reputations are hurt." The lawsuit, filed on May 6 in a Florida federal court, also contends that the deputies should have been compensated as consultants, similar to another officer who was not involved in the raid but received payment for his story.
Legal Challenges in Defamation Cases
While neither deputy is named in the film, legal experts note that defamation actions based on fictional portrayals are possible but face a high bar. Publishing attorney Lloyd Jassin explained on his blog Copylaw, "The description of the fictional character must be so closely aligned with a real person that someone who knows that person would have no difficulty linking the two."
According to a report by WCVB News, attorneys for Artists Equity denied the allegations in a March demand response letter included with the original complaint. They argued that the film used fictional names, settings, and storylines, and that its disclaimer clarified the dramatized nature of the story, not intended to portray real individuals. The Guardian has reached out to Artists Equity for comment.
Netflix, which is not named in the deputies' lawsuit, previously settled a defamation case in 2022 with chess grandmaster Nona Gaprindashvili, who claimed she was defamed in the drama The Queen's Gambit. Gaprindashvili, mentioned by name in the series' finale, sued over the false statement that she had never played against men, when in fact she had competed against and defeated many male opponents.
