Two Miami-Dade sheriff's deputies have filed a defamation lawsuit against Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, alleging their portrayal in the Netflix film The Rip makes them appear as 'dirty cops'. The plaintiffs, Jonathan Santana and Jason Smith, were part of the real-life narcotics team that seized $24 million in cash during a 2016 drug bust in Miami Lakes.
The lawsuit, filed on 6 May in a Florida federal court, targets the actors' production company Artists Equity. The film dramatises the raid, where the money was discovered in 24 buckets hidden behind drywall. Santana told 7 News Miami: 'When you rip something, you're stealing something. We never stole a dollar.'
The deputies' attorney, Ignacio Alvarez, said the officers suffered 'substantial harm to their personal and professional reputations'. He argued that the film's fictionalised account implies his clients were corrupt, and noted that another officer involved in the raid was paid as a consultant, while Santana and Smith were not.
Neither deputy is named in the film, but libel experts say defamation claims against fictional works are possible if the characters are closely identifiable. The movie's disclaimer states it is dramatised and not intended to portray real people. Artists Equity has denied the allegations in a demand response letter.
This is not the first controversy surrounding The Rip. Hialeah mayor Bryan Calvo previously criticised the film for relocating the raid to his city, calling it 'a slap in the face of our law enforcement personnel'. Netflix, which is not named in the lawsuit, settled a similar defamation case in 2022 over The Queen's Gambit.
