Two Miami-Dade sheriff’s sergeants have sued the producers of the Netflix movie The Rip, saying the film lifted verifiable details from a 2016 drug investigation they led and then portrayed the officers who ran it as corrupt cops who stole seized money, worked with drug cartels, and murdered a fellow officer. The Rip film lawsuit, Smith v. Falco Pictures, LLC, No. 1:26-cv-23213-CMA, was filed on May 6, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.1Fox News. Verified Complaint, Smith v. Falco Pictures2NBC Miami. Miami-Dade Officers Suing Over Matt Damon and Ben Affleck Movie The Rip
Who Is Suing and What They Are Claiming
The plaintiffs are Sergeants Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana, both still serving in what is now the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office. Smith was the supervisory sergeant who assigned and oversaw the 2016 investigation; Santana was the lead detective who drafted the search warrant and arrest affidavits.1Fox News. Verified Complaint, Smith v. Falco Pictures They are represented by Ignacio Alvarez of ALGO Law in Coral Gables.3News Tribune. Matt Damon Ben Affleck Sued by Miami-Dade Cops
The named defendants are Falco Pictures, LLC and Artists Equity, LLC, the independent studio co-founded by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon that produced the film. Netflix, which distributes The Rip, is not named; reporting does not say why.4Entertainment Weekly. Ben Affleck Matt Damon Sued by Miami Cops for Defamation Over The Rip Movie5The New York Times. The Rip Netflix Lawsuit
The complaint asserts three causes of action: defamation per se, defamation by implication, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.5The New York Times. The Rip Netflix Lawsuit6Variety. Ben Affleck Matt Damon Sued Over The Rip by Miami Police Officers7The Hollywood Reporter. Matt Damon Ben Affleck The Rip Defamation Lawsuit A separate grievance in the complaint is that the officers were never paid as consultants on a project they say profited from their real work.8The Guardian. Miami Deputies Lawsuit Ben Affleck Matt Damon Rip Movie
Why the Officers Say Viewers Would Recognize Them
Neither sergeant is named on screen. Their argument is that the film carries over so many “distinctive and verifiable elements” of their actual investigation that a reasonable viewer would conclude the fictional officers are stand-ins for them.1Fox News. Verified Complaint, Smith v. Falco Pictures
The real raid took place on June 29, 2016, when the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Tactical Narcotics Team executed a search warrant at a house in Miami Lakes. Behind a false wall in the attic, officers found 24 orange five-gallon Home Depot buckets packed with bundled hundred-dollar bills, along with marijuana, anabolic steroids, and a loaded TEC-9 pistol. The haul came to roughly $22 million, and counting the cash by hand took about 42 hours.9Police1. Netflix Thriller The Rip Draws From a Real Miami-Dade Drug Bust10NBC Miami. The Drug Bust in Miami Lakes That Inspired The Rip No money went missing and no officer was accused of wrongdoing.
The Rip, written and directed by Joe Carnahan, opens with on-screen text saying it is “inspired by real events which took place in Miami.”11Radio Times. The Rip True Story The fictional raid also turns up a fortune in cash that officers must count on site, hidden behind a false wall, stored in orange buckets, and sniffed out by a cash-detection dog. One line delivered by the film’s dog handler was reportedly taken “nearly word for word” from the night of the actual raid.12Time. The Rip True Story
From there, the film departs sharply from what happened. The movie’s officers steal seized money, conspire with cartels, commit arson, and in one scene Affleck’s character murders a DEA agent. Carnahan has said in interviews that the corruption and dirty-cop storyline are fictionalized.13Forbes. Is The Rip Based on a True Story
The Harm the Officers Describe
The complaint says the fallout started almost immediately. Friends and colleagues began asking the officers whether they had used confiscated cash to pay for home improvements, vehicles, and private school tuition for their children.14Florida Politics. Miami-Dade Officers Sue Ben Affleck Matt Damon
Two incidents involving county prosecutors feature prominently in the pleadings. After the trailer was released, one state attorney contacted a plaintiff to ask whether theft allegations had ever surfaced in the 2016 case and said his office would be looking into it. A second prosecutor told one of the officers, “I can’t believe you killed another cop.”15WFMD. Miami Cops Sue Over Matt Damon Ben Affleck True Events Film
What the Defense Is Saying
No motion to dismiss had been filed as of mid-2026. The defense posture is drawn from a March 19, 2026, letter sent by attorney Leita Walker of Ballard Spahr, who represents Artists Equity, in reply to a pre-suit demand from the officers’ counsel.16CNN. Matt Damon Ben Affleck Rip Movie Lawsuit
Walker made three points. The film does not claim to tell the true story of the 2016 bust or to portray real people, a position she said is reinforced by a disclaimer in the credits. The plaintiffs have not identified which specific on-screen character is supposed to represent either Smith or Santana. And even assuming the film draws on a real narcotics unit, there is “no way to connect any of the characters to the plaintiffs.”17First Amendment Watch. South Florida Officers Sue Ben Affleck and Matt Damon
The officers had first sent a legal demand in December 2025, before the film’s release, asking the producers to withhold it in its then-current form. The producers responded that the concerns were “unfounded.” New counsel sent a second formal demand on March 5, 2026, which drew Walker’s March 19 reply.18Yahoo Entertainment. The Rip Defamation Case Ben Affleck1Fox News. Verified Complaint, Smith v. Falco Pictures As of the most recent reporting, a lawyer for Artists Equity declined further comment, and Falco Pictures has not publicly responded.5The New York Times. The Rip Netflix Lawsuit
How Courts Treat Defamation Claims Against Fiction
The central legal question is known as the “of and concerning” test: would a reasonable viewer understand that a fictional character is actually meant to be the plaintiff? Courts have been skeptical when the similarities are generic, such as sharing a profession or city, and claims often fail at that stage.8The Guardian. Miami Deputies Lawsuit Ben Affleck Matt Damon Rip Movie When a work incorporates “highly unusual characteristics that were readily identifiable,” courts have allowed claims against fictional works to go forward.
A recent example is Gaprindashvili v. Netflix, brought by chess grandmaster Nona Gaprindashvili over a line in The Queen’s Gambit stating she had “never faced men” in competition. In January 2022, a federal judge in California denied Netflix’s motion to dismiss, rejecting the argument that the fictional nature of the show shielded it from defamation liability. The court held that no precedent barred defamation claims involving real people depicted in otherwise fictional works.19BBC. Netflix Loses Bid to Dismiss Queens Gambit Defamation Suit Netflix settled on confidential terms in September 2022.
Whether Smith and Santana clear the “of and concerning” bar will likely turn on whether the accumulated details carried over from the real bust (the orange buckets, the false wall, the TEC-9, the cash-sniffing dog, the Miami Lakes setting) are enough to point at identifiable officers even though neither is named and the fictional characters commit crimes the real ones did not. The producers will press the disclaimer and the fictional storyline as a complete break between the two.