Miami Officers Sue Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Over Netflix Film The Rip

Two South Florida police officers have filed a defamation lawsuit against Artists Equity, the film production company owned by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. The legal action centers on the Netflix action thriller The Rip, which the plaintiffs claim uses excessive real-life details to damage their professional and personal reputations.

Sergeants Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana of the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office filed the complaint in Miami federal court in May 2026. The officers allege that the film’s fictionalized narrative portrays characters based on them as criminals who commit severe crimes, including the theft of drug money and the murder of a federal agent.

While the specific monetary amount is not listed in the court filings, the civil complaint seeks punitive and compensatory damages, as well as attorney fees. The plaintiffs are also requesting a public correction and retraction from the production company.

Inspiration and Production

In The Rip, Affleck and Damon star as Detective Sergeant J.D. Byrne and Lieutenant Dane Dumars, South Florida police officers who discover millions of dollars inside a house. According to reporting from NBC News, parts of the movie were inspired by a real 2016 case in which police found more than $21 million in a Miami Lakes home linked to a suspected marijuana trafficker.

To ensure the film’s accuracy, the creators worked with Miami-Dade Police Capt. Chris Casiano, who served as a technical advisor. Matt Damon stated in a January interview with The Associated Press that he and Affleck spent time with Casiano and other narcotics officers during the film’s preparation to better understand the operational dynamics of those units.

We really wanted to kind of understand what those dynamics were like. 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.

Matt Damon

The lawsuit contends that despite the creators’ framing of the story as a fictionalized narrative, the inclusion of specific details from the 2016 drug money seizure falsely suggests the plaintiffs were involved in criminal activity.

Legal Response

An attorney for Artists Equity declined to comment on the ongoing litigation on May 11, 2026. Court documents have not yet clarified which specific characters within the film the plaintiffs believe are intended to represent them.