Two Miami-Dade narcotics officers who made the largest cash seizure in the department's history are suing the production companies behind a Netflix thriller they say turned their real work into a portrait of corruption.
Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana filed suit Tuesday in a Florida federal district court against Artists Equity, the production company founded by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and co-producer Falco Pictures. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for defamation, defamation by implication, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Netflix, which streamed the film, is not named as a defendant.
The case centers on "The Rip," a police thriller marketed as "inspired by true events" in which Damon and Affleck starred and served as co-producers. Smith and Santana allege the film drew directly from a June 29, 2016 operation in which they discovered $21,970,411 in cash hidden inside orange buckets behind a false wall in a Miami Lakes home. Santana was the lead detective; Smith supervised the operation.
According to the complaint, the film recreated enough distinctive details from the case that colleagues, family members, and prosecutors immediately connected the fictional officers to the real ones. The lawsuit says people approached Smith and Santana asking "which character they were" and "how many buckets they kept" after seeing the film or its trailer.
The officers say the similarities ended there. "The Rip" added fabricated storylines involving officers stealing seized money, communicating with cartel members, concealing evidence from supervisors, and being implicated in the murder of a fellow officer and the killing of a DEA agent, according to the complaint.
Smith and Santana say they tried to stop the damage before it spread. They sent a cease-and-desist letter in December 2025, objecting to the trailer and promotional materials. The lawsuit also states that a Miami-Dade officer who had consulted on the film later contacted the plaintiffs on behalf of director Joe Carnahan to apologize and offer them consulting roles on a future project.
Damon and Affleck founded Artists Equity in 2022 with backing from RedBird Capital. Affleck serves as chief executive officer of the company. A spokesperson for Netflix did not respond to a request for comment Friday night.
No trial date has been set.
