Two sergeants with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office have filed a federal lawsuit against Artists Equity, the production company co-owned by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, alleging that the recent Netflix action film “The Rip” defamed them by borrowing heavily from a genuine drug-money seizure case. The suit, filed in Miami federal court earlier this month, claims that the detail drawn from a 2016 investigation — including the real roles the officers played — has led friends, family, and colleagues to falsely believe the officers committed the movie’s crimes.
Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana, the plaintiffs, say in the complaint that Santana was the lead detective on the original case and Smith was the supervising sergeant. Neither is named in the film, and neither was involved in its production. The movie, which debuted on Netflix in January and stars Affleck and Damon as South Florida narcotics officers who stumble upon millions of dollars, was inspired by an actual 2016 raid that recovered more than $21 million in a Miami Lakes home linked to a suspected marijuana trafficker.
Actor Matt Damon told the Associated Press in January that he and Affleck spent time with Miami-Dade Police Capt. Chris Casiano and other officers to better understand such units. “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.”
In response to the lawsuit, an attorney for Artists Equity, Leita Walker, wrote in a March letter that the film does not purport to tell the true story of that incident or portray real people, and that a disclaimer in the film’s credits states as much. Walker argued that the plaintiffs haven’t identified any particular character as being based on them, so even if “The Rip” was about a real-life narcotics team, there is no way to connect any character to the plaintiffs.
The lawsuit alleges that the film’s plot — which involves officers conspiring to steal seized drug money, murdering a supervising officer, communicating with cartel members, committing arson, and executing a federal agent — has given the plaintiffs’ community the impression that they committed those crimes. The suit, which does not specify a dollar figure, seeks compensatory and punitive damages, attorney fees, and a public retraction.
An attorney for Artists Equity declined to comment when reached by the AP on Monday. “The Rip,” directed by Joe Carnahan, currently holds a 78% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.