Two Miami police officers sued Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s production company claiming that it defamed them with its portrayal of law enforcement officers in Netflix’s recent crime drama The Rip.
In the film, Affleck and Damon play Florida police officers who find millions of dollars in a house during a raid conducted after a drug trafficking investigation. The officers in the film conspire to steal the seized drug money. The film contains a disclaimer stating it is “inspired by true events.”
In June 2016, plaintiffs Jason Smith, a sheriff, and Jonathan Santana, a detective, conducted a raid where they seized more than $21 million dollars. The plaintiffs claim that the film—which does not identify them by name—defames them because the officers never conspired to steal seized drug money. The plaintiffs allege that The Rip’s “use of unique, non-generic details of the June 29, 2016 investigation, combined with its Miami-Dade setting and portrayal of a narcotics team, creates a reasonable inference that the officers depicted are Plaintiffs." The plaintiffs also allege that people have approached them since the film came out asking which character they were and how much money they kept after the raid.
Plaintiffs allege two causes of action: defamation per se and defamation by implication. The plaintiffs argue that the film defamed them per se because it accuses them of a crime they did not commit. The plaintiffs also argue the film defames them by implication, because even though they are “not named,” The Rip “as a whole contains sufficient facts or references from which the Plaintiffs may be determined by the persons watching or who have watched the Film.”
In December 2025, plaintiffs made a demand for a retraction. They filed the lawsuit on May 6, 2026. The case is Jason Smith, et al. v. Falco Pictures, LLC, et al.
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