Two Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies have filed a federal lawsuit against Ben Affleck and Matt Damon‘s production company Artists Equity, claiming the Netflix crime thriller The Rip falsely depicted them as corrupt law enforcement officers and caused lasting damage to their personal and professional reputations.
Officers Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana — who were not named in the film — filed the suit Tuesday in a Florida federal district court. The complaint names Artists Equity and co-producer Falco Pictures, a project-specific LLC tied to the production, as defendants. Netflix, which distributed the film, is not named in the lawsuit.
The charges include defamation, defamation by implication, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorney fees, as well as a public retraction and the addition of a prominent disclaimer to the film.
The Rip, directed by Joe Carnahan and released on Netflix in January 2026, stars Damon as Lieutenant Dane Dumars and Affleck as Detective Sergeant J.D. Byrne — two Miami-Dade narcotics officers who uncover corruption tied to $20 million in cartel cash. The film opens with the text “inspired by true events.”
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Smith and Santana allege that real-life inspiration is precisely the problem. In June 2016, the two officers cracked a Miami Lakes narcotics case in which nearly $22 million in cash was discovered hidden inside orange buckets behind a false wall inside a private residence. The lawsuit argues that the film’s use of those specific, non-generic details — combined with its Miami-Dade setting and narcotics unit backdrop — makes it “reasonably inferable” that the fictional characters are based on the plaintiffs.
Santana, speaking to local Miami media, maintained that neither he nor his partner took a single dollar from the seized funds.
The lawsuit claims that after the film’s release, family members, colleagues, and even prosecutors approached the officers asking which characters they were and suggesting they had kept a portion of the seized funds. Santana said that where he was once celebrated for the 2016 bust, he is now routinely mocked by peers.
“They portrayed police officers as dirty, they portrayed my clients as dirty,” said Ignacio Alvarez, attorney for the plaintiffs. “Now their reputations are hurt. My clients are now hurt for the rest of their lives.”
Critically, the lawsuit reveals that Smith and Santana’s legal team sent a cease-and-desist letter to Artists Equity before the film’s January 2026 release, requesting modifications to the movie and an updated disclaimer. The film was released without changes. Artists Equity responded to the officers’ concerns after the release by stating the claims were “unfounded” because the film did not expressly name the plaintiffs.
The timing of the lawsuit is notable. The Rip became one of Netflix’s biggest titles of early 2026, spending three consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the streamer’s Global Weekly Top 10 chart and accumulating 112.3 million views over six weeks. That commercial momentum directly contributed to Artists Equity signing a multi-year first-look streaming deal with Netflix in March 2026.
Founded in November 2022 by Affleck and Damon with $100 million in backing from investment firm RedBird Capital Partners, Artists Equity has positioned itself as a talent-forward studio offering profit participation to creatives. Affleck serves as CEO; Damon is Chief Content Officer. The company’s slate includes Air, The Accountant 2, and Unstoppable, distributed through Amazon MGM, Lionsgate, and Sony Pictures.
Neither Artists Equity nor Netflix has issued a formal public response to the suit.
